[git] How do I configure git to ignore some files locally?

Can I ignore files locally without polluting the global git config for everyone else? I have untracked files that are spam in my git status but I don't want to commit git config changes for every single little random untracked file I have in my local branches.

In order to ignore untracked files especially if they are located in (a few) folders that are not tracked, a simple solution is to add a .gitignore file to every untracked folder and enter in a single line containing * followed by a new line. It's a really simple and straightforward solution if the untracked files are in a few folders. For me, all files were coming from a single untracked folder vendor and the above just worked.

For anyone who wants to ignore files locally in a submodule:

Edit my-parent-repo/.git/modules/my-submodule/info/exclude with the same format as a .gitignore file.

this is a kind of brief solution,that add a row to local exclude file.

 echo YOURFILE_OR_DIRECTOY >> .git/info/exclude 

You can install some git aliases to make this process simpler. This edits the [alias] node of your .gitconfig file.

git config --global alias.ignore 'update-index --skip-worktree'
git config --global alias.unignore 'update-index --no-skip-worktree'
git config --global alias.ignored '!git ls-files -v | grep "^S"'

The shortcuts this installs for you are as follows:

• git ignore config.xml
  • git will pretend that it doesn't see any changes upon config.xml — preventing you from accidentally committing those changes.
• git unignore config.xml
  • git will resume acknowledging your changes to config.xml — allowing you again to commit those changes.
• git ignored
  • git will list all the files which you are "ignoring" in the manner described above.

I built these by referring to phatmann's answer — which presents an --assume-unchanged version of the same.

The version I present uses --skip-worktree for ignoring local changes. See Borealid's answer for a full explanation of the difference, but essentially --skip-worktree's purpose is for developers to change files without the risk of committing their changes.

The git ignored command presented here uses git ls-files -v, and filters the list to show just those entries beginning with the S tag. The S tag denotes a file whose status is "skip worktree". For a full list of the file statuses shown by git ls-files: see the documentation for the -t option on git ls-files.

I think you are looking for:

git update-index --skip-worktree FILENAME

which ignore changes made local

Here's http://devblog.avdi.org/2011/05/20/keep-local-modifications-in-git-tracked-files/ more explanation about these solution!

to undo use:

git update-index --no-skip-worktree FILENAME

Add the following lines to the [alias] section of your .gitconfig file

ignore = update-index --assume-unchanged
unignore = update-index --no-assume-unchanged
ignored = !git ls-files -v | grep "^[[:lower:]]"

Now you can use git ignore my_file to ignore changes to the local file, and git unignore my_file to stop ignoring the changes. git ignored lists the ignored files.

This answer was gleaned from http://gitready.com/intermediate/2009/02/18/temporarily-ignoring-files.html.

Update: Consider using git update-index --skip-worktree [<file>...] instead, thanks @danShumway! See Borealid's explanation on the difference of the two options.

Old answer:

If you need to ignore local changes to tracked files (we have that with local modifications to config files), use git update-index --assume-unchanged [<file>...].

You can simply add a .gitignore file to your home directory, i.e. $HOME/.gitignore or ~/.gitignore. Then tell git to use that file with the command:

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

This is a normal .gitignore file which git references when deciding what to ignore. Since it's in your home directory, it applies only to you and doesn't pollute any project .gitignore files.

I've been using this approach for years with great results.

You have several options:

• Leave a dirty (or uncommitted) .gitignore file in your working dir (or apply it automatically using topgit or some other such patch tool).
• Put the excludes in your $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file, if this is specific to one tree.
• Run git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore and add patterns to your ~/.gitignore. This option applies if you want to ignore certain patterns across all trees. I use this for .pyc and .pyo files, for example.

Also, make sure you are using patterns and not explicitly enumerating files, when applicable.

If your repo doesn't already have a .gitignore file, then a simple solution is to create a .gitignore file, and in it add .gitignore to the list of files to be ignored.

Both --assume-unchanged and --skip-worktree are NOT A CORRECT WAY to ignore files locally... Kindly check this answer and the notes in the documentation of git update-index. Files that for any reason keep changing frequently (and/or change from a clone to another) and their changes should not be committed, then these files SHOULD NOT be tracked in the first place.

However, the are two proper ways to ignore files locally (both work with untracked files). Either to put files names in .git/info/exclude file which is the local alternative of .gitignore but specific to the current clone. Or to use a global .gitignore (which should be properly used only for common auxiliary files e.g. pyz, pycache, etc) and the file will be ignored in any git repo in your machine.

To make the above as kind of automated (adding to exclude or global .gitignore), you can use the following commands (add to your bash-profile):

• Per clone local exclude (Note that you should be in the root of the repository when calling the command because of using the relative path), change ##FILE-NAME## to .git/info/exclude
• Global .gitignore, first make global .gitignore here then change ##FILE-NAME## to ~/.gitignore

Linux

alias git-ignore='echo $1 >> ##FILE-NAME##'
alias git-show-ignored='cat ##FILE-NAME##'
git-unignore(){
  GITFILETOUNIGNORE=${1//\//\\\/}
  sed -i "/$GITFILETOUNIGNORE/d" ##FILE-NAME##
  unset GITFILETOUNIGNORE
}

MacOS (you need the .bak for sed inplace modifications (i.e. you are forced to add a file extension to inplace sed. i.e. make a backup before replacing something), therefore to delete the .bak file I added rm filename.bak)

alias git-ignore='echo $1 >> ##FILE-NAME##'
alias git-show-ignored='cat ##FILE-NAME##'
git-unignore(){
  GITFILETOUNIGNORE=${1//\//\\\/}
  sed -i.bak "/$GITFILETOUNIGNORE/d" ##FILE-NAME##
  rm ##FILE-NAME##.bak
  unset GITFILETOUNIGNORE
}

Then you can do:

git-ignore example_file.txt
git-unignore example_file.txt