Ignoring Files in Git

Projects often contain files that we don't want to store in the Git system. These may include temporary files generated by your code, cache files, or password files.

We can force Git to ignore such folders and files. This is done with a special file .gitignore, placed in your project folder.

In this file, on each line you need to write the path to the file or folder that you want to ignore. Let's look at examples of what syntax is allowed here.

Example

A slash before a file name matches a file in the root of the repository:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

Without a leading slash, files in subfolders will also be ignored:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

Example

Without a slash at the end, both files without an extension and folders with this name will be ignored:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

Example

Only folders with a trailing slash will be ignored:

For example, the following folders will be ignored:

Example

Two asterisks at the beginning of a folder will cause all folders containing such a subfolder in the path to be ignored:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

Example

Two asterisks can also be used to match files based on their name and the name of their parent folder:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

One star — is a wildcard that can match any or all characters:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

Example

Adding an exclamation point to the beginning of a pattern cancels the pattern's effect. If a file matches a pattern, but also matches the overriding pattern specified after it, the file will not be ignored:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

The question mark corresponds to exactly one character:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

Square brackets match one character from the specified set:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

Square brackets can also be used to specify a match for a single character from a given range:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

The exclamation mark can be used to match any character except those in the specified set:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

Ranges can be numeric or alphabetic:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Example

Two asterisks correspond to multiple directories or none:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

Example

Wildcards can also be used in directory names:

For example, the following files will be ignored:

But not:

Practical tasks