Git Ignore and .gitignore
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When sharing your code with others, there are often files or parts of your project, you do not want to share.
Examples
- log files
- temporary files
- hidden files
- personal files
- etc.
Git can specify which files or parts of your project should be
ignored by Git using a .gitignore file.
Git will not track files and folders specified in .gitignore. However, the .gitignore
file itself IS tracked by Git.
Create .gitignore
To create a .gitignore file, go to the root of your local Git, and create it:
Example
touch .gitignoreNow open the file using a text editor.
We are just going to add two simple rules:
- Ignore any files with the
.logextension - Ignore everything in any directory named
temp
Example
# ignore ALL .log files
*.log
# ignore ALL files in ANY directory named temp
temp/
Now all .log files and anything in
temp folders will be ignored by Git.
Note: In this case, we use a single .gitignore which applies to the entire repository.
It is also possible to have additional .gitignore files in subdirectories. These only apply to files or folders within that directory.
Rules for .gitignore
Here are the general rules for matching patterns in .gitignore
files:
| Pattern | Explanation/Matches | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Blank lines are ignored | ||
| # text comment | Lines starting with # are ignored | |
| name | All name files, name folders, and files and folders in any name folder | /name.log /name/file.txt /lib/name.log |
| name/ | Ending with / specifies the pattern is for a folder. Matches all files and folders in any name folder | /name/file.txt /name/log/name.log no match: /name.log |
| name.file | All files with the name.file | /name.file /lib/name.file |
| /name.file | Starting with / specifies the pattern matches only files in the root folder | /name.file no match: /lib/name.file |
| lib/name.file | Patterns specifiing files in specific folders are always realative to root (even if you do not start with / ) | /lib/name.file no match: name.file /test/lib/name.file |
| **/lib/name.file | Starting with ** before / specifies that it matches any folder in the repository. Not just on root. | /lib/name.file /test/lib/name.file |
| **/name | All name folders, and files and folders in any name folder | /name/log.file /lib/name/log.file /name/lib/log.file |
| /lib/**/name | All name folders, and files and folders in any name folder within the lib folder. | /lib/name/log.file /lib/test/name/log.file /lib/test/ver1/name/log.file no match: /name/log.file |
| *.file | All files withe .file extention | /name.file /lib/name.file |
| *name/ | All folders ending with name | /lastname/log.file /firstname/log.file |
| name?.file | ? matches a single non-specific character | /names.file /name1.file no match: /names1.file |
| name[a-z].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 /lib/name.file |
| name/ !name/secret.log |
! specifies a negation or exception. Matches all files and folders in any name folder, except name/secret.log | /name/file.txt /name/log/name.log no match: /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.* |
Adding new patterns after a negation will re-ignore a previous negated file All files withe .file extention, except the ones in name folder. Unless the file name is junk |
/log.file /name/log.file no match: /name/junk.file |
Local and Personal Git Ignore Rules
It is also possible to ignore files or folders but not show it in the
distributed .gitignore file.
These kinds of ignores are specified in the
.git/info/exclude file. It works the same way as
.gitignore but are not shown to anyone else.