Advanced .gitignore Patterns

You've used basic .gitignore rules before. Now let's master the pattern syntax for precise control over which files Git tracks.

Pattern Syntax

Simple Patterns

*.log          # ignore all .log files
debug.log      # ignore a specific file
build/         # ignore the build directory

Directory vs File

A trailing slash means "directory only":

logs           # ignores files AND directories named "logs"
logs/          # ignores only the directory named "logs"

Wildcards

*              # matches everything except /
**             # matches everything including /
?              # matches any single character
[abc]          # matches a, b, or c
[0-9]          # matches any digit

The Double Star

The ** pattern is powerful for matching across directories:

**/logs        # logs directory anywhere in the tree
**/logs/*.log  # .log files inside any logs directory
src/**/*.test  # .test files anywhere under src/

Negation Patterns

Use ! to un-ignore a file:

*.log          # ignore all log files
!important.log # but keep this one

Order matters. Patterns are processed top-to-bottom. A later pattern overrides an earlier one.

build/         # ignore everything in build/
!build/.keep   # this WON'T work — parent directory is ignored

To keep a file inside an ignored directory, you must un-ignore the directory first:

build/*        # ignore contents of build (not the dir itself)
!build/.keep   # now this works

Common Templates

Node.js / JavaScript

node_modules/
dist/
.env
.env.local
*.log
coverage/

Python

__pycache__/
*.pyc
.venv/
*.egg-info/
dist/
.env

Java / Kotlin

*.class
target/
build/
.gradle/
*.jar

General

# OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Editor files
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp
*~

# Environment
.env
.env.local

Global .gitignore

You can set a global ignore file for patterns that apply to all your repos:

git config --global core.excludesFile ~/.gitignore_global

Put OS and editor patterns here so you don't repeat them in every project.

Checking Ignore Rules

Use git check-ignore to debug which rule is ignoring a file:

git check-ignore -v debug.log
# .gitignore:1:*.log    debug.log

The -v flag shows which file and line number matched.

Already Tracked Files

Adding a file to .gitignore doesn't stop tracking it if it's already been committed. You must remove it from the index first:

git rm --cached secret.env    # stop tracking but keep the file
git commit -m "Stop tracking secret.env"