Git Ignore and .gitignore

What is .gitignore? The.gitignore file tells Git which files and folders to ignore (not track). This is useful for keeping log files, temporary files, build artifacts, or personal files out of your repository.

The.gitignore file itself is tracked by Git, so everyone using the repository ignores the same files. When to Use .gitignore When you want to keep sensitive, local, or unnecessary files out of your repository When sharing a project with others and want to avoid cluttering Git history When working with build tools or editors that create extra files Create a .gitignore File Go to the root of your local Git repository. Create a file named.gitignore

Example touch .gitignore

To ignore a folder and everything inside it, use a trailing slash: temp/ This ignores any folder named temp anywhere in your project. Wildcards & Patterns Wildcards let you match many files or folders at once: * matches any number of characters ? matches a single character [abc] matches any character in the set [!abc] matches any character not in the set *.tmp # all .tmp files my?ile.txt # matches my1ile.txt, myAile.txt, etc.

Negation (!)

! to not ignore something that would otherwise be ignored. This is called an exception: *.log !important.log This ignores all.log files except important.log.

# are comments and are ignored by Git. Blank lines are also ignored. Use comments to explain your rules: # Ignore log files *.log

# Ignore temp folders temp/ Local & Personal Ignore Rules If you want to ignore files only for yourself (not for everyone who uses the repository), add them to.git/info/exclude. This works just like.gitignore but is not shared. Global .gitignore (User Level)

Thumbs.db ):

~/.gitignore_global.

If you add a file to.gitignore but Git is still tracking it, you need to tell Git to stop: git rm --cached filename.txt This removes the file from the repository but keeps it on your computer. Next time you commit, Git will ignore it. Tips & Troubleshooting

Use comments ( # ) to explain tricky rules for your teammates. Use git status to see if your ignored files are being tracked. Remember:.gitignore only affects files that are not already tracked by Git.

Here are some common patterns and how they match:

# text comment Lines starting with # are ignored name All name files, name folders, and files and folders in any name folder /name.log

/

/name.log name. file All files with the name.file /name.file

/name. file

/name.file no match:

file Patterns specifiing files in specific folders are always realative to root (even if you do not start with / )

name.file

**

** /name All name folders, and files and folders in any name folder

/lib/** /name All name folders, and files and folders in any name folder within the lib folder.

*. file All files withe.file extention /name.file

• name /

?. file

/names.file /name1.file no match: /names1.file name

file [ range ] matches a single character in the specified range (in this case a character in the range of a-z, and also be numberic.) /names.file /nameb.file no match: /name1.file name [abc]. file [ set ] matches a single character in the specified set of characters (in this case either a, b, or c) /namea.file /nameb.file no match: /names.file name [!abc]. file [! set ] matches a single character, except the ones spesified in the set of characters (in this case a, b, or c) /names.file /namex.file no match: /namesb.file *. file All files withe.file extention /name.file

/ ! name /secret.log

*. file ! name.file ! specifies a negation or exception. All files withe.file extention, except name.file /log.file /lastname.file no match: /name.file *. file ! name /*.file junk.*

All files withe.file extention, except the ones in name folder. Unless the file name is junk /log.file