MEPX
Chapter 12 of 14All chapters
  1. 1What Git is
  2. 2The three places
  3. 3Committing
  4. 4History and diffs
  5. 5Branches
  6. 6Merging
  7. 7Conflicts
  8. 8Remotes
  9. 9Fetch, pull and push
  10. 10Undoing work
  11. 11Stashing
  12. 12Ignoring files
  13. 13Tags and releases
  14. 14Working with others

Chapter 12 of 14

Ignoring files

Keeping noise out of the repository.

How .gitignore works

Each line is a pattern. Matching untracked files stop appearing in status and cannot be added by accident. Build output, dependencies, local environment files and editor folders belong here.

  • It has no effect on files already tracked. Those need git rm --cached first.
  • A committed secret stays in history even after you delete the file, so rotate the key.

Where it lives

A .gitignore at the repository root covers everything, and one in a subdirectory covers that subtree. Personal editor preferences belong in your global ignore file rather than the shared one.