Intro to `git`

Block 2.1: Ignoring things: .gitignore

Jan Simson

Ignoring files via `.gitignore` 🙈

By default, git will track all the files in your repository.
If you want it to ignore certain files or filetypes, you have to tell it so explicitly.
You can do this by using a file called .gitignore
- Every file will be compared against the list in .gitignore and if it matches, git will ignore the file
The .gitignore file itself is tracked just like any other file

Ignore every file called myfile.pdf

myfile.pdf

Ignore the file called myfile.pdf in the folder reports at the root of your repository

/reports/myfile.pdf

Ignore all PDF files

*.pdf

Tip

The .gitignore uses the same kind of pattern matching as git add (or other git commands)

There can be multiple different .gitignore files at different levels
There’s one global .gitignore, that will work across your whole computer
There are local gitignore files within your repositories
- You can even have a gitignore file in a directory within your repository and it will apply only within that directory
- You can find a list of very useful templates for local.gitignore files at https://github.com/github/gitignore.
- A classic example for files to ignore globally are .DS_Store files on macOS.

Once a file is tracked by git, adding it to the .gitignore will not do anything.

You will first have to remove it from git
Option 1: Delete the file and commit the deletion
Option 2: Remove file from index only (and commit)
- git rm --cached <file>
- ⚠️ Warning: This will delete the file for anyone else working with the repository!

Any Questions?