{ "mode": "info", "parameter": "gitignore", "section": "", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/info/gitignore/json", "generated": "2026-07-11T00:40:29Z", "synopsis": "$XDGCONFIGHOME/git/ignore, $GITDIR/info/exclude, .gitignore", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "gitignore - Specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "$XDGCONFIGHOME/git/ignore, $GITDIR/info/exclude, .gitignore\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "A gitignore file specifies intentionally untracked files that Git\nshould ignore. Files already tracked by Git are not affected; see the\nNOTES below for details.\n\nEach line in a gitignore file specifies a pattern. When deciding\nwhether to ignore a path, Git normally checks gitignore patterns from\nmultiple sources, with the following order of precedence, from highest\nto lowest (within one level of precedence, the last matching pattern\ndecides the outcome):\n\no Patterns read from the command line for those commands that support\nthem.\n\no Patterns read from a .gitignore file in the same directory as the\npath, or in any parent directory (up to the top-level of the\nworking tree), with patterns in the higher level files being\noverridden by those in lower level files down to the directory\ncontaining the file. These patterns match relative to the location\nof the .gitignore file. A project normally includes such .gitignore\nfiles in its repository, containing patterns for files generated as\npart of the project build.\n\no Patterns read from $GITDIR/info/exclude.\n\no Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration variable\ncore.excludesFile.\n\nWhich file to place a pattern in depends on how the pattern is meant to\nbe used.\n\no Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to\nother repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will\nwant to ignore) should go into a .gitignore file.\n\no Patterns which are specific to a particular repository but which do\nnot need to be shared with other related repositories (e.g.,\nauxiliary files that live inside the repository but are specific to\none user's workflow) should go into the $GITDIR/info/exclude file.\n\no Patterns which a user wants Git to ignore in all situations (e.g.,\nbackup or temporary files generated by the user's editor of choice)\ngenerally go into a file specified by core.excludesFile in the\nuser's ~/.gitconfig. Its default value is\n$XDGCONFIGHOME/git/ignore. If $XDGCONFIGHOME is either not set\nor empty, $HOME/.config/git/ignore is used instead.\n\nThe underlying Git plumbing tools, such as git ls-files and git\nread-tree, read gitignore patterns specified by command-line options,\nor from files specified by command-line options. Higher-level Git\ntools, such as git status and git add, use patterns from the sources\nspecified above.\n", "subsections": [] }, "PATTERN FORMAT": { "content": "o A blank line matches no files, so it can serve as a separator for\nreadability.\n\no A line starting with # serves as a comment. Put a backslash (\"\\\")\nin front of the first hash for patterns that begin with a hash.\n\no Trailing spaces are ignored unless they are quoted with backslash\n(\"\\\").\n\no An optional prefix \"!\" which negates the pattern; any matching file\nexcluded by a previous pattern will become included again. It is\nnot possible to re-include a file if a parent directory of that\nfile is excluded. Git doesn't list excluded directories for\nperformance reasons, so any patterns on contained files have no\neffect, no matter where they are defined. Put a backslash (\"\\\") in\nfront of the first \"!\" for patterns that begin with a literal \"!\",\nfor example, \"\\!important!.txt\".\n\no The slash / is used as the directory separator. Separators may\noccur at the beginning, middle or end of the .gitignore search\npattern.\n\no If there is a separator at the beginning or middle (or both) of the\npattern, then the pattern is relative to the directory level of the\nparticular .gitignore file itself. Otherwise the pattern may also\nmatch at any level below the .gitignore level.\n\no If there is a separator at the end of the pattern then the pattern\nwill only match directories, otherwise the pattern can match both\nfiles and directories.\n\no For example, a pattern doc/frotz/ matches doc/frotz directory, but\nnot a/doc/frotz directory; however frotz/ matches frotz and a/frotz\nthat is a directory (all paths are relative from the .gitignore\nfile).\n\no An asterisk \"*\" matches anything except a slash. The character \"?\"\nmatches any one character except \"/\". The range notation, e.g.\n[a-zA-Z], can be used to match one of the characters in a range.\nSee fnmatch(3) and the FNMPATHNAME flag for a more detailed\ndescription.\n\nTwo consecutive asterisks (\"\") in patterns matched against full\npathname may have special meaning:\n\no A leading \"\" followed by a slash means match in all directories.\nFor example, \"/foo\" matches file or directory \"foo\" anywhere, the\nsame as pattern \"foo\". \"/foo/bar\" matches file or directory \"bar\"\nanywhere that is directly under directory \"foo\".\n\no A trailing \"/\" matches everything inside. For example, \"abc/\"\nmatches all files inside directory \"abc\", relative to the location\nof the .gitignore file, with infinite depth.\n\no A slash followed by two consecutive asterisks then a slash matches\nzero or more directories. For example, \"a//b\" matches \"a/b\",\n\"a/x/b\", \"a/x/y/b\" and so on.\n\no Other consecutive asterisks are considered regular asterisks and\nwill match according to the previous rules.\n", "subsections": [] }, "CONFIGURATION": { "content": "The optional configuration variable core.excludesFile indicates a path\nto a file containing patterns of file names to exclude, similar to\n$GITDIR/info/exclude. Patterns in the exclude file are used in\naddition to those in $GITDIR/info/exclude.\n", "subsections": [] }, "NOTES": { "content": "The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files not\ntracked by Git remain untracked.\n\nTo stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use git rm --cached.\n\nGit does not follow symbolic links when accessing a .gitignore file in\nthe working tree. This keeps behavior consistent when the file is\naccessed from the index or a tree versus from the filesystem.\n", "subsections": [] }, "EXAMPLES": { "content": "o The pattern hello.* matches any file or directory whose name\nbegins with hello.. If one wants to restrict this only to the\ndirectory and not in its subdirectories, one can prepend the\npattern with a slash, i.e. /hello.*; the pattern now matches\nhello.txt, hello.c but not a/hello.java.\n\no The pattern foo/ will match a directory foo and paths underneath\nit, but will not match a regular file or a symbolic link foo (this\nis consistent with the way how pathspec works in general in Git)\n\no The pattern doc/frotz and /doc/frotz have the same effect in any\n.gitignore file. In other words, a leading slash is not relevant if\nthere is already a middle slash in the pattern.\n\no The pattern \"foo/*\", matches \"foo/test.json\" (a regular file),\n\"foo/bar\" (a directory), but it does not match \"foo/bar/hello.c\" (a\nregular file), as the asterisk in the pattern does not match\n\"bar/hello.c\" which has a slash in it.\n\n$ git status\n[...]\n# Untracked files:\n[...]\n# Documentation/foo.html\n# Documentation/gitignore.html\n# file.o\n# lib.a\n# src/internal.o\n[...]\n$ cat .git/info/exclude\n# ignore objects and archives, anywhere in the tree.\n*.[oa]\n$ cat Documentation/.gitignore\n# ignore generated html files,\n*.html\n# except foo.html which is maintained by hand\n!foo.html\n$ git status\n[...]\n# Untracked files:\n[...]\n# Documentation/foo.html\n[...]\n\nAnother example:\n\n$ cat .gitignore\nvmlinux*\n$ ls arch/foo/kernel/vm*\narch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S\n$ echo '!/vmlinux*' >arch/foo/kernel/.gitignore\n\nThe second .gitignore prevents Git from ignoring\narch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S.\n\nExample to exclude everything except a specific directory foo/bar (note\nthe /* - without the slash, the wildcard would also exclude everything\nwithin foo/bar):\n\n$ cat .gitignore\n# exclude everything except directory foo/bar\n/*\n!/foo\n/foo/*\n!/foo/bar\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "git-rm(1), gitrepository-layout(5), git-check-ignore(1)\n", "subsections": [] }, "GIT": { "content": "Part of the git(1) suite\n\nGit 2.34.1 02/26/2026 GITIGNORE(5)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "gitignore - Specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore", "flags": [], "examples": [ "o The pattern hello.* matches any file or directory whose name", "begins with hello.. If one wants to restrict this only to the", "directory and not in its subdirectories, one can prepend the", "pattern with a slash, i.e. /hello.*; the pattern now matches", "hello.txt, hello.c but not a/hello.java.", "o The pattern 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)", "o The pattern doc/frotz and /doc/frotz have the same effect in any", ".gitignore file. In other words, a leading slash is not relevant if", "there is already a middle slash in the pattern.", "o The pattern \"foo/*\", matches \"foo/test.json\" (a regular file),", "\"foo/bar\" (a directory), but it does not match \"foo/bar/hello.c\" (a", "regular file), as the asterisk in the pattern does not match", "\"bar/hello.c\" which has a slash in it.", "$ git status", "[...]", "# Untracked files:", "[...]", "# Documentation/foo.html", "# Documentation/gitignore.html", "# file.o", "# lib.a", "# src/internal.o", "[...]", "$ cat .git/info/exclude", "# ignore objects and archives, anywhere in the tree.", "*.[oa]", "$ cat Documentation/.gitignore", "# ignore generated html files,", "*.html", "# except foo.html which is maintained by hand", "!foo.html", "$ git status", "[...]", "# Untracked files:", "[...]", "# Documentation/foo.html", "[...]", "Another example:", "$ cat .gitignore", "vmlinux*", "$ ls arch/foo/kernel/vm*", "arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S", "$ echo '!/vmlinux*' >arch/foo/kernel/.gitignore", "The second .gitignore prevents Git from ignoring", "arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S.", "Example to exclude everything except a specific directory foo/bar (note", "the /* - without the slash, the wildcard would also exclude everything", "within foo/bar):", "$ cat .gitignore", "# exclude everything except directory foo/bar", "/*", "!/foo", "/foo/*", "!/foo/bar" ], "see_also": [ { "name": "git-rm", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-rm/1/json" }, { "name": "gitrepository-layout", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitrepository-layout/5/json" }, { "name": "git-check-ignore", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-check-ignore/1/json" } ] }