Gitignore Cheat Sheet

Master .gitignore — pattern syntax, global gitignore, negation, directory-specific rules, and best practices for keeping repositories clean.

Last Updated: May 1, 2025

Pattern Syntax

Pattern	Matches	Example
*.log	All .log files	error.log, debug.log
build/	Any directory named build	build/, src/build/
**/temp	temp anywhere in tree	temp, src/temp, a/b/temp
*.js	All .js in this directory	app.js (not subdir/file.js)
*/.js	All .js at any depth	app.js, lib/util.js
!important.log	Negation: DON'T ignore	Overrides *.log for this file
/TODO	Only TODO at root	/TODO (not src/TODO)
doc/*/.txt	All .txt in doc/ tree	doc/readme.txt, doc/ref/manual.txt

node_modules/

Ignore Node.js dependencies (always)

dist/

Ignore build output directory

.env

Ignore environment files with secrets

*.pyc

Ignore compiled Python bytecode

__pycache__/

Ignore Python cache directory

.DS_Store

Ignore macOS directory metadata files

*.swp

Ignore Vim swap files

coverage/

Ignore test coverage reports

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

Set up a global gitignore file

nano ~/.gitignore_global

Create and edit your global gitignore

echo '.DS_Store' >> ~/.gitignore_global

Add macOS metadata files globally

git config --global core.excludesfile

Check if global gitignore is configured

git check-ignore -v file

Find which gitignore rule is ignoring a file

git rm --cached file

Stop tracking a file (add it to gitignore first)

Item	Description
`Commit Early`	Add .gitignore as your first commit to prevent tracking unwanted files
`Environment Files`	Always ignore .env — use .env.example with placeholder values instead
`Generated Files`	Ignore anything produced by builds, compilers, or package managers
`OS Files`	Use global gitignore for OS-specific files (.DS_Store, Thumbs.db)
`Local Overrides`	Use .git/info/exclude for personal ignores you don't want to share
`Check Before Add`	git status before git add . — catch files you forgot to gitignore
`Team Consistency`	Review .gitignore in PRs to ensure team agreement
`Un-ignore Tracked Files`	git rm --cached && commit after updating .gitignore

Pro Tip: Commit your .gitignore early — before adding any files. Once a file is tracked, adding it to .gitignore won't stop tracking it.