bfg:tldr:82051

The command "bfg --delete-files ${file_with_sensitive_data}" is a command-line instruction that runs the BFG tool with specific options to delete files containing sensitive data.

Here's a breakdown of the command components:

• "bfg": It refers to the BFG tool, which is a powerful open-source software for removing sensitive data (such as passwords, social security numbers, etc.) from Git repositories. It helps clean up repositories by removing or redacting unwanted information.

• "--delete-files": This is an option provided by BFG that instructs it to delete the files containing sensitive data from the repository. When this option is enabled, BFG will permanently delete those files from the Git history.

• "${file_with_sensitive_data}": This is a placeholder variable representing the actual filename or path of the file(s) containing sensitive data. The user is supposed to replace "${file_with_sensitive_data}" with the appropriate value to identify the file(s) they want to delete. For example, if the file containing sensitive data is named "secret_passwords.txt", it would be replaced as "bfg --delete-files secret_passwords.txt".

Overall, this command uses BFG to remove files containing sensitive data from a Git repository. It is a useful command for maintaining the security and privacy of code repositories by ensuring sensitive information is removed from the history.