-----------
A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
-git should ignore. Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a
-pattern.
+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
`gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
* Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
- higher level files (up to the root) being overridden by those in
- lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
+ higher level files (up to the toplevel of the work tree) being overridden
+ by those in lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
These patterns match relative to the location of the
`.gitignore` file. A project normally includes such
`.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for
* Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
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
-linkgit:git-ls-files[1] and linkgit:git-read-tree[1], read
+'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
-tools, such as linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-add[1],
+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.
- 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
+-----
+
+The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files
+not tracked by git remain untracked.
-An example:
+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
+ $ git status
[...]
# Untracked files:
[...]
*.html
# except foo.html which is maintained by hand
!foo.html
- $ git-status
+ $ git status
[...]
# Untracked files:
[...]
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
---
-Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite