git commit error message

Question

When I write a command line:

git commit -m ™Initial commit™

I got an error:

error: pathspec '"commit\342\204\242"' did not match any file(s) known to git.

How can i fix it?

sarnold · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-01 10:49:46Z

It's probably those hilarious ™ trademark symbols:

$ echo -e "\0342\0204\0242" ™

Try typing in, by hand, git commit -m "initial commit", and using the standard " quotes -- ASCII octal 042, decimal 34, hex 0x22.

defuz · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-01 11:27:32Z

It seems this is because there is no file that git could be put into the repository.

Create an empty file (for example .gitlock), and then run this command before committing:

git add .gitlock

2 Answers 2