[git] How to ignore certain files in Git

I have a repository with a file, Hello.java. When I compile it, an additional Hello.class file is generated.

I created an entry for Hello.class in a .gitignore file. However, the file still appears to be tracked.

How can I make Git ignore Hello.class?

This webpage may be useful and time-saving when working with .gitignore.

It automatically generates .gitignore files for different IDEs and operating systems with the specific files/folders that you usually don't want to pull to your Git repository (for instance, IDE-specific folders and configuration files).

I had a similar issue with file "dump.rdb".
I tried adding this file in various ways to .gitignore file, but only one way worked.

Add your filename, at the end of .gitignore file

NOTE: Adding the file anywhere else didn't work.

For example, see: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/raw/b3ad3f202478dd88a3cfe4461703bc3df1019f90/.gitignore

Create a .gitignore in the directory where .git is. You can list files in it separated by a newline. You also can use wildcards:

*.o
.*.swp

You should write something like

*.class

into your .gitignore file.

Add the following line to .gitignore:

/Hello.class

This will exclude Hello.class from git. If you have already committed it, run the following command:

git rm Hello.class

If you want to exclude all class files from git, add the following line to .gitignore:

*.class

1) Create a .gitignore file. To do that, you just create a .txt file and change the extension as follows:

Then you have to change the name, writing the following line in a cmd window:

 rename git.txt .gitignore

Where git.txt is the name of the file you've just created.

Then you can open the file and write all the files you don’t want to add on the repository. For example, mine looks like this:

#OS junk files
[Tt]humbs.db
*.DS_Store

#Visual Studio files
*.[Oo]bj
*.user
*.aps
*.pch
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
*_i.c
*_p.c
*.ncb
*.suo
*.tlb
*.tlh
*.bak
*.[Cc]ache
*.ilk
*.log
*.lib
*.sbr
*.sdf
*.pyc
*.xml
ipch/
obj/
[Bb]in
[Dd]ebug*/
[Rr]elease*/
Ankh.NoLoad

#Tooling
_ReSharper*/
*.resharper
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*

#Project files
[Bb]uild/

#Subversion files
.svn

# Office Temp Files
~$*

Once you have this, you need to add it to your Git repository. You have to save the file where your repository is.

Then in Git Bash you have to write the following line:

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

If the repository already exists then you have to do the following:

1. git rm -r --cached .
2. git add .
3. git commit -m ".gitignore is now working"

If the step 2 doesn’t work then you should write the whole route of the files that you would like to add.

From the official GitHub site:

If you already have a file checked in, and you want to ignore it, Git will not ignore the file if you add a rule later. In those cases, you must untrack the file first, by running the following command in your terminal:

git rm --cached FILENAME

or

git rm --cached .

Add the following line to .git/info/exclude:
Hello.class

Add which files you want to ignore to file .gitignore:

*.class

*.projects

*.prefs

*.project

I tried this -

1. list files which we want to ignore

git status .idea/xyz.xml .idea/pqr.iml Output .DS_Store

2. Copy the content of step#1 and append it into .gitignore file.

echo " .idea/xyz.xml .idea/pqr.iml Output .DS_Store" >> .gitignore

3. Validate

git status .gitignore

likewise we can add directory and all of its sub dir/files which we want to ignore in git status using directoryname/* and I executed this command from src directory.

You can also use .gitattributes (instead of .gitignore) to exclude entire filetypes. The file is pretty self-explanatory, but I'm pasting the contents here for reference. Pay attention to the last line (*.class binary):

# Denote all files that are truly binary and should not be modified.
*.png binary
*.jpg binary
*.gif binary
*.ico binary
*.mo binary
*.pdf binary
*.phar binary
*.class binary

git reset filename
git rm --cached filename

then add your file which you want to ignore it,

then commit and push to your repository

First create a .gitignore file where we have to store the names of files and directories to be ignored. To ignore a directory;

name_of_directory/

To ignore a file;

name_of_file

We don't need to provide the complete path of the file or directory to be ignored, we just have to provide its name.

If you want to ignore all files with same extention;

*.pyc  #will ignore all files with pyc extention

1. Go to .gitignore file and add the entry for the files you want to ignore
2. Run git rm -r --cached .
3. Now run git add .

To ignore:

git update-index --assume-unchanged <path/to/file>

To undo ignore:

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <path/to/file>

for compiled code. just write

.class or .o

How to ignore new files

Globally

Add the path(s) to your file(s) which you would like to ignore to your .gitignore file (and commit them). These file entries will also apply to others checking out the repository.

Locally

Add the path(s) to your file(s) which you would like to ignore to your .git/info/exclude file. These file entries will only apply to your local working copy.

How to ignore changed files (temporarily)

In order to ignore changed files to being listed as modified, you can use the following git command:

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>

To revert that ignorance use the following command:

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

I have tried the --assume-unchanged and also the .gitignore but neither worked well. They make it hard to switch branches and hard to merge changes from others. This is my solution:

When I commit, I manually remove the files from the list of changes

Before I pull, I stash the changed files. And after pull, I do a stash pop.

1. git stash
2. git pull
3. git stash pop

Step 3 sometimes will trigger a merge and may result in conflict that you need to resolve, which is a good thing.

This allows me to keep local changes that are not shared with others on the team.

By creating a .gitignore file. See here for details: Git Book - Ignoring files

Also check this one out: How do you make Git ignore files without using .gitignore?

You can use below methods for ignoring/not-ignoring changes in tracked files.

1. For ignoring: git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>
2. For reverting ignored files: git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

If you have already committed the file and you are trying to ignore it by adding to the .gitignore file, Git will not ignore it. For that, you first have to do the below things:

git rm --cached FILENAME

If you are starting the project freshly and you want to add some files to Git ignore, follow the below steps to create a Git ignore file:

1. Navigate to your Git repository.
2. Enter "touch .gitignore" which will create a .gitignore file.