-----------
A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
-git should ignore.
-Files already tracked by git are not affected; see the NOTES
+Git should ignore.
+Files already tracked by Git are not affected; see the NOTES
below for details.
Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a pattern.
-When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
+When deciding whether to ignore a path, Git normally checks
`gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
variable 'core.excludesfile'.
Which file to place a pattern in depends on how the pattern is meant to
-be used. Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
-other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
-to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file. Patterns which are
-specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
-with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
-the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
-the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file. Patterns which a user wants git to
-ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
-the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
-`core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`.
-
-The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
+be used.
+
+ * Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
+ other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
+ to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file.
+
+ * Patterns which are
+ specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
+ with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
+ the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
+ the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file.
+
+ * Patterns which a user wants Git to
+ ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
+ the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
+ `core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`. Its default value is
+ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/ignore. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is either not set or
+ empty, $HOME/.config/git/ignore is used instead.
+
+The underlying Git plumbing tools, such as
'git ls-files' and 'git read-tree', read
`gitignore` patterns specified by command-line options, or from
-files specified by command-line options. Higher-level git
+files specified by command-line options. Higher-level Git
tools, such as 'git status' and 'git add',
use patterns from the sources specified above.
for readability.
- A line starting with # serves as a comment.
+ Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first hash for patterns
+ that begin with a hash.
- - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
+ - An optional prefix "`!`" which negates the pattern; any
matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
included again. If a negated pattern matches, this will
override lower precedence patterns sources.
+ Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first "`!`" for patterns
+ that begin with a literal "`!`", for example, "`\!important!.txt`".
- If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the
purpose of the following description, but it would only find
a match with a directory. In other words, `foo/` will match a
directory `foo` and paths underneath it, but will not match a
regular file or a symbolic link `foo` (this is consistent
- with the way how pathspec works in general in git).
+ with the way how pathspec works in general in Git).
- - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
+ - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', Git treats it as
a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
pathname relative to the location of the `.gitignore` file
(relative to the toplevel of the work tree if not from a
`.gitignore` file).
- - Otherwise, git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable
+ - Otherwise, Git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable
for consumption by fnmatch(3) with the FNM_PATHNAME flag:
wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname.
For example, "Documentation/{asterisk}.html" matches
For example, "/{asterisk}.c" matches "cat-file.c" but not
"mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+Two consecutive asterisks ("`**`") in patterns matched against
+full pathname may have special meaning:
+
+ - A leading "`**`" followed by a slash means match in all
+ directories. For example, "`**/foo`" matches file or directory
+ "`foo`" anywhere, the same as pattern "`foo`". "**/foo/bar"
+ matches file or directory "`bar`" anywhere that is directly
+ under directory "`foo`".
+
+ - A trailing "/**" matches everything inside. For example,
+ "abc/**" matches all files inside directory "abc", relative
+ to the location of the `.gitignore` file, with infinite depth.
+
+ - A slash followed by two consecutive asterisks then a slash
+ matches zero or more directories. For example, "`a/**/b`"
+ matches "`a/b`", "`a/x/b`", "`a/x/y/b`" and so on.
+
+ - Other consecutive asterisks are considered invalid.
+
NOTES
-----
The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files
-not tracked by git remain untracked.
+not tracked by Git remain untracked.
To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked,
use 'git update-index {litdd}assume-unchanged'.
$ echo '!/vmlinux*' >arch/foo/kernel/.gitignore
--------------------------------------------------------------
-The second .gitignore prevents git from ignoring
+The second .gitignore prevents Git from ignoring
`arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S`.
SEE ALSO