git-ignore (1) - Linux Manuals
git-ignore: Add .gitignore patterns
NAME
git-ignore - Add .gitignore patternsSYNOPSIS
git-ignore [<context>] [<pattern> [<pattern>]...]DESCRIPTION
Adds the given _pattern_s to a .gitignore file if it doesn't already exist.OPTIONS
<context>-l, --local
Sets the context to the .gitignore file in the current working directory. (default)
-g, --global
Sets the context to the global gitignore file for the current user.
<pattern>
A space delimited list of patterns to append to the file in context.
PATTERN FORMAT
Pattern format as described in the git manual- •
- A blank line matches no files, so it can serve as a separator for readability. To append a blank line use empty quotes "".
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- A line starting with # serves as a comment. For example, "# This is a comment"
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- 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. To use an exclamation ! as command line argument it is best placed between single quotes ''. For example, '!src'
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- If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the purpose of the following description, but it would only find a match with a directory. In other words, 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).
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- If the pattern does not contain a slash /, git treats it as a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the pathname relative to the location of the .gitignore file (relative to the toplevel of the work tree if not from a .gitignore file).
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- 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" or "tools/perf/Documentation/perf.html".
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- A leading slash matches the beginning of the pathname. For example, "/*.c" matches "cat-file.c" but not "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
EXAMPLES
All arguments are optional so calling git-ignore alone will display first the global then the local gitignore files:-
$ git ignore Global gitignore: /home/alice/.gitignore # Numerous always-ignore extensions *.diff *.err *.orig *.rej *.swo *.swp *.vi *~ *.sass-cache # OS or Editor folders .DS_Store .Trashes ._* Thumbs.db --------------------------------- Local gitignore: .gitignore .cache .project .settings .tmproj nbproject
If you only want to see the global context use the --global argument (for local use --local):
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$ git ignore Global gitignore: /home/alice/.gitignore .DS_Store .Trashes ._* Thumbs.db
To quickly append a new pattern to the default/local context simply:
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$ git ignore *.log Adding pattern(s) to: .gitignore ... adding '*.log'
You can now configure any patterns without ever using an editor, with a context and pattern arguments: The resulting configuration is also returned for your convenience.
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$ git ignore --local "" "# Temporary files" *.tmp "*.log" tmp/* "" "# Files I'd like to keep" '!work' "" Adding pattern(s) to: .gitignore ... adding '' ... adding '# Temporary files' ... adding 'index.tmp' ... adding '*.log' ... adding 'tmp/*' ... adding '' ... adding '# Files I'd like to keep' ... adding '!work' ... adding '' Local gitignore: .gitignore # Temporary files index.tmp *.log # Files I'd like to keep !work