Ignoring files in Git

tl;dr: We can tell git to ignore files using .gitignore and exclude.

• In the home directory, we can set the global .gitignore
• From within the project repository, there's the project .gitignore andpersonal exclude file (found within the local .git folder).
• Rules in the subdirectories override the rules in the parent directories.

On .gitignore and exclude files

1. core.excludesfile

   • Global .gitignore
   • Ignore files across all git repositories of the current user in the system.
   • Example: Files related to the OS and code editor
     • macOS.gitignore,
     • VisualStudioCode.gitignore

   • Configure using --global option

     • Below it's named .gitignore but it can be any file name (e.g. .gitignore_global).

     • By convention, this is saved in the same location as the global gitconfig (in the home directory) but it can be in another location.

         nano ~/.gitignore
       

     • Specify the path to the .gitignore file

         git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore
       

     • Additional patterns can be appended using:

         echo .DS_Store >> ~/.gitignore
       

     • ⏩ Set global .gitignore
     • It's also possible to set values using --system and the --local options

2. .gitignore

   • Project .gitignore
   • Ignore files common across all copies of the current project repository.
   • Example: File patterns related to the project and the programming language
     • Node.gitignore
     • config.json (because this contains the token)

         echo config.json >> .gitconfig
       

       
   • Version-controlled, committed and shared with anyone who clones the repository.
   • There can be multiple .gitignore in a repository but the convention is to place one in the top level directory. Same level as the local .git folder
3. .git/info/exclude
   • Personal exclude
   • Ignore files within the current copy of the project repository.
   • Example: File patterns related to personal workflow and development tools
     • Personal commit.template saved in .gitmessage.txt

       echo .gitmessage.txt >> .git/info/exclude
       

   • exclude is a file located in the local .git folder. This file is not committed to the repository.
   • ⏩ Display .git folder on Visual Studio Code

More .gitignore templates

• Github maintains a collection of .gitignore templates.
• Toptotal gitignore.io can be used to generate .gitignore files.