What does --cached stand for with git?

Question

I have one git command line like this

git rm -r --cached superlists/__pycache__

I know that the files would be removed,but are we creating temporary storage area?If yes,why?

Answer 1

git rm --cached — Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index. Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be left alone.

for more see this