Git Ignore - Ignoring files in Git repository
Git
In this tutorial we will learn to ignore files using the .gitignore file in Git repository.
What is .gitignore file?
This is the file that we add in our project folder and it tells Git to ignore files and directories that are mentioned.
Files from Git's perspective
Every file in the working directory of our project is seen by Git as one of the following.
- Untracked
- Tracked
- Ignored
An untracked file is one that has never been staged or committed.
A tracked file is one that has been staged or committed earlier.
An ignored file is one that is ignored by Git as it is explicitly told to do so.
Why we use .gitignore file
As our project grows we will have multiple files and directories. In such a scenario it is not needed to save (commit) files and directories that are not of major importance.
For example, the hidden system files like .DS_Store or log files like .log and .lock and IDE config files like .idea/workspace.xml can be ignored as they are not the actual code of the project.
Similarly, build directories like dist/ or build/ which contains output files that can we regenerated every time we build our project can be easily ignored from the Git commit.
Content of .gitignore file
The .gitignore file contains some patterns that are matched with files in our project folder (working directory) and Git then decides whether or not to exclude (ignore) the files from commit based on pattern match.
Create the .gitignore file
Open the project folder in terminal and run touch .gitignore command and it will create the file. Or you can create a file from your IDE and save it as .gitignore file.
Patterns for .gitignore file
Following are some of the patterns that you can use in the .gitignore file.
| Pattern | Description | Match |
|---|---|---|
| logs | This will match both files and content of a directories with the name logs. So, files and directories by the name logs are ignored. | logs logs/user.log dist/logs dist/logs/error.log |
| logs/ | A slash indicates that the pattern is a directory. So, directories matching the name logs and all its files and subdirectories will be ignored. | logs/user.log logs/build/error.log dist/logs/error.log dist/logs/user/debug.log |
| error.log | By default, patterns match files so, this pattern will ignore any error.log file. | error.log logs/error.log dist/logs/user/error.log |
| /error.log | A leading slash will only match files in the repository root directory. | Following Ignored error.log Following Not ignored logs/error.log |
| logs/error.log | This pattern will ignore error.log file having logs/ as its parent directory. And this is relative to the repository root. | Following Ignored logs/error.log Following Not ignored dist/logs/error.log |
| *.log | An asterisk will match zero or more characters. So, the given pattern will ignore files ending with .log | .log error.log logs/.log logs/user.log dist/logs/.log dist/logs/user.log |
| *.log !important.log | The prepending exclamation mark negates a pattern. So, in the given patterns all the files matching the .log pattern will be ignored but files matching the negating pattern important.log will not be ignored even though they match the .log pattern. | Following Ignored .log error.log logs/error.log Following Not Ignored important.log logs/important.log dist/logs/important.log |
| *.log !src/*.log temp.* | Patterns that are defined after a negated pattern re-ignores any previously negated files. So, all files matching the .log pattern are ignored. Then we have the negated pattern !src/*.log so, any file under the src/ directory matching the .log pattern is not ignored. After the negated pattern we have a new pattern temp.* so, any file matching the temp. pattern is ignored even if it is inside the src/ directory and even if it ends with a .log | Following Ignored .log user.log temp.log temp.bak logs/temp.log src/temp.log Following Not Ignored src/.log src/db.log |
| **/logs | Leading double asterisk in a pattern matches directories anywhere in the repository. So, the given pattern will ignore any directory and all its files and subdirectories matching the pattern logs | logs/error.log logs/user/db.bak dist/logs/error.log |
| **/logs/user.temp | Leading double asterisk in a pattern with file name and parent directory can ignore all files matching that pattern. So, in the given pattern any user.temp file having logs as parent directory will be ignored. | Following Ignored logs/user.temp dist/logs/user.temp Following Not Ignored dist/logs/user/user.temp |
| logs/**/user.temp | Leading double asterisk with slash will match directory. So, in the given pattern any user.temp file directly inside or under subdirectories of logs directory will be ignored. | logs/user.temp logs/temp/user.temp dist/logs/user.temp dist/logs/user/user.temp |
| logs/*tmp/user.temp | Leading asterisk will match directory name. So, in the given pattern any user.temp file under subdirectories having pattern tmp of logs directory will be ignored. | Following Ignored logs/user_tmp/user.temp logs/tmp/user.temp dist/logs/tmp/user.temp dist/logs/usertmp/user.temp Following Not Ignored dist/logs/user/tmp/user.temp dist/logs/user/dbtmp/user.temp |
| error?.log | Question mark matches single character. So, the given pattern will match files having single character after error and before .log | Following Ignored error0.log error1.log errorA.log errorB.log Following Not Ignored error10.log errorAB.log |
| error[0-9].log | We use the square bracket to match a single character in a given range. In the given pattern error can have 0 to 9 digit after it and before .log | Following Ignored error0.log error1.log error9.log Following Not Ignored errorA.log error10.log |
| error[a-z].log | We use the square bracket to match a single character in a given range. In the given pattern error can have a to z letters after it and before .log | Following Ignored errora.log errorb.log errorc.log Following Not Ignored error1.log errorab.log |
| error[123].log | We use the square bracket to match a single character in a given range. In the given pattern error can have 1, 2 and 3 digit after it and before .log | Following Ignored error1.log error2.log error3.log Following Not Ignored error0.log errorA.log |
| error[!01].log | Exclamation mark inside the square bracket is to match anything expect the characters in the bracket. In the given pattern error can have any other character after it and before .log but not 0 and 1. | Following Ignored error2.log errorA.log error99.log Following Not Ignored error0.log error1.log |