Git .gitignore

Git .gitignore

A .gitignore file tells Git which files and folders to ignore, so they never get committed.

Create the file

In your repository root, create a file named exactly:

.gitignore

What to ignore

• Secrets like .env or config.php
• Build folders like node_modules, dist, build
• Log files like *.log
• OS files like .DS_Store or Thumbs.db
• Compiled files like .class or .exe

Example .gitignore

node_modules/
dist/
.env
*.log
.DS_Store

The star pattern

matches any file name. So .log ignores every file ending in .log, and *.txt ignores every .txt file.

Folder and rule endings

• A trailing slash like node_modules/ ignores a whole folder.
• Lines starting with # are comments.

Check what would be ignored

git status

Ignored files simply do not show up. To check a rule:

git check-ignore -v myfile.log

TL;DR

• .gitignore lists files Git should never track.
• Use it for secrets, build folders, and logs.
• * matches any file name.
• Ignored files disappear from git status.