A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
git should ignore.
-Note that all the `gitignore` files really concern only files
-that are not already tracked by git;
-in order to ignore uncommitted changes in already tracked files,
-please refer to the 'git update-index --assume-unchanged'
-documentation.
+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
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 `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file. Patterns which a user wants git to
-ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
-the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
-`core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`.
+be used.
+
+ * Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
+ other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
+ to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file.
+
+ * Patterns which are
+ specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
+ with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
+ the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
+ the `$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
tools, such as 'git status' and 'git add',
use patterns from the sources specified above.
-Patterns have the following format:
+PATTERN FORMAT
+--------------
- A blank line matches no files, so it can serve as a separator
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
- If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
- pathname without leading directories.
+ 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
for consumption by fnmatch(3) with the FNM_PATHNAME flag:
wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname.
- For example, "Documentation/\*.html" matches
- "Documentation/git.html" but not
- "Documentation/ppc/ppc.html". A leading slash matches the
- beginning of the pathname; for example, "/*.c" matches
- "cat-file.c" but not "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+ For example, "Documentation/{asterisk}.html" matches
+ "Documentation/git.html" but not "Documentation/ppc/ppc.html"
+ or "tools/perf/Documentation/perf.html".
+
+ - A leading slash matches the beginning of the pathname.
+ For example, "/{asterisk}.c" matches "cat-file.c" but not
+ "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+
+NOTES
+-----
-An example:
+The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files
+not tracked by git remain untracked.
+
+To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked,
+use 'git update-index {litdd}assume-unchanged'.
+
+To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use
+'git rm --cached'.
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
--------------------------------------------------------------
$ git status
The second .gitignore prevents git from ignoring
`arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S`.
-Documentation
--------------
-Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano, Josh Triplett,
-Frank Lichtenheld, and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-rm[1], linkgit:git-update-index[1],
+linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5]
GIT
---