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-rw-r--r--Documentation/gitignore.txt152
1 files changed, 107 insertions, 45 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index 59321a2e82..63260f0056 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -7,21 +7,18 @@ gitignore - Specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore
SYNOPSIS
--------
-$GIT_DIR/info/exclude, .gitignore
+$HOME/.config/git/ignore, $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, .gitignore
DESCRIPTION
-----------
A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
-git should ignore.
-Note that all the `gitignore` files really concern only files
-that are not already tracked by git;
-in order to ignore uncommitted changes in already tracked files,
-please refer to the 'git update-index --assume-unchanged'
-documentation.
+Git should ignore.
+Files already tracked by Git are not affected; see the NOTES
+below for details.
Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a pattern.
-When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
+When deciding whether to ignore a path, Git normally checks
`gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
@@ -31,8 +28,8 @@ precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
* Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
- higher level files (up to the root) being overridden by those in
- lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
+ higher level files (up to the toplevel of the work tree) being overridden
+ by those in lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
These patterns match relative to the location of the
`.gitignore` file. A project normally includes such
`.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for
@@ -41,60 +38,111 @@ precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
* Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
* Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
- variable 'core.excludesfile'.
+ variable `core.excludesFile`.
Which file to place a pattern in depends on how the pattern is meant to
-be used. Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
-other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
-to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file. Patterns which are
-specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
-with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
-the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
-the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file. Patterns which a user wants git to
-ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
-the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
-`core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`.
-
-The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
-'git-ls-files' and 'git-read-tree', read
+be used.
+
+ * Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
+ other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
+ to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file.
+
+ * Patterns which are
+ specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
+ with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
+ the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
+ the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file.
+
+ * Patterns which a user wants Git to
+ ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
+ the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
+ `core.excludesFile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`. Its default value is
+ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/ignore. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is either not set or
+ empty, $HOME/.config/git/ignore is used instead.
+
+The underlying Git plumbing tools, such as
+'git ls-files' and 'git read-tree', read
`gitignore` patterns specified by command-line options, or from
-files specified by command-line options. Higher-level git
-tools, such as 'git-status' and 'git-add',
+files specified by command-line options. Higher-level Git
+tools, such as 'git status' and 'git add',
use patterns from the sources specified above.
-Patterns have the following format:
+PATTERN FORMAT
+--------------
- A blank line matches no files, so it can serve as a separator
for readability.
- A line starting with # serves as a comment.
+ Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first hash for patterns
+ that begin with a hash.
- - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
+ - Trailing spaces are ignored unless they are quoted with backslash
+ ("`\`").
+
+ - 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.
+ included again. It is not possible to re-include a file if a parent
+ directory of that file is excluded. Git doesn't list excluded
+ directories for performance reasons, so any patterns on contained
+ files have no effect, no matter where they are defined.
+ Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first "`!`" for patterns
+ that begin with a literal "`!`", for example, "`\!important!.txt`".
- 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).
+ with the way how pathspec works in general in Git).
- - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
+ - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', Git treats it as
a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
- pathname without leading directories.
+ pathname relative to the location of the `.gitignore` file
+ (relative to the toplevel of the work tree if not from a
+ `.gitignore` file).
- - Otherwise, git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable
+ - 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". A leading slash matches the
- beginning of the pathname; for example, "/*.c" matches
- "cat-file.c" but not "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+ For example, "Documentation/{asterisk}.html" matches
+ "Documentation/git.html" but not "Documentation/ppc/ppc.html"
+ or "tools/perf/Documentation/perf.html".
+
+ - A leading slash matches the beginning of the pathname.
+ For example, "/{asterisk}.c" matches "cat-file.c" but not
+ "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+
+Two consecutive asterisks ("`**`") in patterns matched against
+full pathname may have special meaning:
+
+ - A leading "`**`" followed by a slash means match in all
+ directories. For example, "`**/foo`" matches file or directory
+ "`foo`" anywhere, the same as pattern "`foo`". "`**/foo/bar`"
+ matches file or directory "`bar`" anywhere that is directly
+ under directory "`foo`".
+
+ - A trailing "`/**`" matches everything inside. For example,
+ "`abc/**`" matches all files inside directory "`abc`", relative
+ to the location of the `.gitignore` file, with infinite depth.
+
+ - A slash followed by two consecutive asterisks then a slash
+ matches zero or more directories. For example, "`a/**/b`"
+ matches "`a/b`", "`a/x/b`", "`a/x/y/b`" and so on.
+
+ - Other consecutive asterisks are considered invalid.
+
+NOTES
+-----
+
+The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files
+not tracked by Git remain untracked.
-An example:
+To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use
+'git rm --cached'.
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
--------------------------------------------------------------
$ git status
@@ -133,13 +181,27 @@ Another example:
$ echo '!/vmlinux*' >arch/foo/kernel/.gitignore
--------------------------------------------------------------
-The second .gitignore prevents git from ignoring
+The second .gitignore prevents Git from ignoring
`arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S`.
-Documentation
--------------
-Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano, Josh Triplett,
-Frank Lichtenheld, and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
+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
+--------
+linkgit:git-rm[1],
+linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5],
+linkgit:git-check-ignore[1]
GIT
---