Correctly ignore all files recursively under a specific folder except for a specific file type

Question

I have seen similar questions  1  2 and 3   but I don t get a proper solution from them    I need to ignore all files under a particular folder except for a specific file type  The folder is a subdirectory for the root path  Let me name the folder Resources  Since I don t want to complicate things  let me ignore files under all folders named Resources wherever it is   This is the most common solution  in all the duplicate questions     Ignore everything      Don t ignore directories  so we can recurse into them        Don t ignore  gitignore   gitignore    Now exclude our type    foo   The problem with this solution is that it stops tracking newly added files  since   ignores all files   I don t want to keep excluding each and every file type  I want normal behaviour where if any new file is added  git status shows it    I finally got a solution here  The solution is to add another  gitignore file in Resources folder  This works correctly    Can I achieve the same with one ignore file  I find having many ignore files in different directories a bit clunky   This is what I m trying to achieve      Ignore everything under Resources folder  not elsewhere Resources    Don t ignore directories  so we can recurse into them   Resources     Now exclude our type    foo   But this gives the opposite output  It ignores   foo types and tracks other files

User · Answer

This might look stupid  but check if you haven t already added the folder files you are trying to ignore to the index before  If you did  it does not matter what you put in your  gitignore file  the folders files will still be staged

User · Answer

Either I m doing it wrongly  or the accepted answer does not work anymore with the current git  I have actually found the proper solution and posted it under almost the same question here  For more details head there  Solution    Ignore everything inside Resources  directory  Resources      Except for subdirectories won t be committed anyway if there is no committed file inside    Resources       And except for   foo files    foo

User · Answer

The best answer is to add a Resources  gitignore file under Resources containing     Ignore any file in this directory except for this file and   foo files      gitignore    foo   If you are unwilling or unable to add that  gitignore file  there is an inelegant solution     Ignore any file but   foo under Resources  Update this if we add deeper directories Resources    Resources     Resources   foo Resources      Resources       Resources     foo Resources        Resources         Resources       foo Resources          Resources           Resources         foo   You will need to edit that pattern if you add directories deeper than specified

User · Answer

SimonBuchan is correct   Since git 1 8 2  Resources     Resources      foo works

[git] Correctly ignore all files recursively under a specific folder except for a specific file type

Examples related to git

Examples related to version-control

Examples related to directory

Examples related to gitignore

Examples related to subdirectory