What is the Git File Status?

About

The status of a file in a working directory is one of:

where:

State	Tracked	Description
untracked	untracked	New file
unmodified	Tracked	File is the same as in the last commit
modified	Tracked	File is not the same as in the last commit
staged	Tracked	File has been added in the index to create the next commit

Tracked / Untracked

Each file in a working directory can be in one of two states:

tracked
or untracked.

Tracked

Tracked files are files that were in the last snapshot (ie head). They can have the status:

unmodified,
modified,
or staged (ie in the index for the next commit)

Untracked

Untracked files are new files.

More specifically, they are any files in the working directory that:

were not in the last snapshot
and are not in the staging area (next commit).

Management

Modification

From untracked to deleted: git clean -f Git - Clean
From staged to unmodified : git reset HEAD file Git - Reset (Unstaging) - Delete a change for the next commit
From modified to unmodified : git checkout -- file What is a Git Checkout?
From modified to staged: git add <file>... Git - Add command (Staging) - Add a change to the next commit

Get

git status

On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

        modified:   syntax.php

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")