Git .gitattributes

What is.gitattributes ? The.gitattributes file is a special file that tells Git how to handle specific files in your repository. It controls things like line endings, file types, merge behavior, custom diff tools, and more. Everyone on your team gets the same settings because this file is versioned with your project. For more about Git LFS, see the dedicated page. When to Use.gitattributes To enforce consistent line endings across different operating systems To mark files as binary (so Git doesn't try to merge or change them)

To set up custom diff or merge tools for special file types To control how files are exported in archives Create or Edit.gitattributes Go to the root of your repository (or a subfolder for local rules). Create or edit the.gitattributes file. Add rules, one per line, for how Git should treat files.

Example: Force Unix Line Endings for All Text Files

Standardize line endings to avoid merge conflicts and broken files across different OSes.

Tell Git which files are binary (not text). This prevents Git from trying to merge or change line endings for these files.

*.png binary

Use Git LFS for large files like images or datasets. This tells Git to use LFS for these files:

Tell Git to use a special tool to compare certain file types (like Markdown or Jupyter notebooks):

See what attributes are set for a file:

Example: Check Attributes of a File git check-attr --all README.md

Set custom merge drivers for tricky files (like lock files or notebooks).

Example: Ignore Files on Export docs/* export-ignore Tips & Best Practices Patterns work like.gitignore (wildcards, etc). Put.gitattributes in subfolders for rules that only apply there.