Ignore Files (.gitignore)

What Will We Learn?

How to use .gitignore and what are the common patterns to use it.

What is .`gitignore`?

To put it simple, .gitignore file is a way of telling Git — “Don’t track these files or directories which I listed here.” This means the file patterns you include in gitignore file won’t be included in any part of your version control.

Why to Use `.gitignore`?

By default, Git will track all the files in your project but tracking, adding and committing all files can be security risk, unnecessary and can certainly become a mess while the project grows. You want gitignore because it filters your requirements:

You only want to include necessary and related project files
You don’t wanna include all temporary files used and generated developing any project
You certainly don’t wanna commit password or environment files that may expose security risk

How to Use `.gitignore`?

Start by creating the .gitignore file in the root of your project directory. The basic syntax is:

Pattern	Meaning
`abc`	Ignore any file or directory named `abc` anywhere in the repository.
`abc/`	Ignore any directory named `abc` anywhere in the repository (but not a file named `abc`).
`/abc`	Ignore only the file or directory named `abc` in the repository root.
`/abc/`	Ignore only the directory named `abc` in the repository root.
`file.txt`	Ignore any file or directory named `file.txt` anywhere in the repository.
`*.log`	Ignore all `.log` files anywhere in the repository.
`*.tmp`	Ignore all `.tmp` files.
`/file.txt`	Ignore only `file.txt` in the repository root.
`**/dir/`	Ignore directories named `dir` at any depth (usually equivalent to `dir/`).
`*/.log`	Ignore all `.log` files recursively in every directory.
`logs/*.log`	Ignore `.log` files directly inside any `logs` directory.
`/logs/*.log`	Ignore `.log` files only in the root `logs` directory.
`foo/**`	Ignore everything inside `foo` recursively, but not necessarily `foo` itself.
`**/cache/`	Ignore any directory named `cache` anywhere in the repository.
`!file.txt`	Re-include `file.txt` if it was ignored by a previous rule.
`!dir/`	Re-include the `dir` directory if it was ignored by a previous rule.
`# This is a comment`	Comment; ignored by Git.
`\#file`	Ignore a file literally named `#file`.
`\!important.txt`	Ignore a file literally named `!important.txt`.
`[ab].txt`	Ignore `a.txt` and `b.txt`.
`[0-9].log`	Ignore log files with a single-digit name, such as `1.log` or `7.log`.
`file?.txt`	Ignore files like `file1.txt` or `fileA.txt`, but not `file10.txt`.

Tip

.gitignore supports common regex patterns as seen in the above table used for complex filtering.

Note

The line starting with # is a comment and ignored by Git.

Common Patterns

Common patterns include ignoring different patterns:

Ignoring IDE-Specific Files

IDE often creates config which are useful for IDE but not for your project and you should ignore them. For example ignore vscode config:

# vscode
.vscode/

Ignoring Temporary Files

You or your project may create temporary files. Ignore them:

*.tmp
*.bak
*.temp

Negation Pattern

If you wanna ignore all log files but not one, you can:

# ignore all log files
*.log
# but not app.log
!app.log

Ignoring Object and Executables Files

While working on C/C++ projects, compiling them creates build artifacts which are not necessary for source code:

/build/
*.exe
*.o

But if you wish to release executable in Github or elsewhere, you may use negation for certain executable like your app.exe:

!app.exe

`.gitignore` Tips

Tip

If file is already been tracked (currently staged) by Git, simply adding it to .gitignore will not just untrack it. You must unstage it first using git rm --cached <file>

Tip

You can check whether certain git ignore rule is being applied to certain file using git check-ignore -v <file>

Last updated on July 13, 2026

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