git ignore everything except files in certain subdirectories

Question

I just created a folder like this:

.
├── config
│   ├── subfolder
│   │   └── config.xml
│   └── subfolder2
│       └── config.xml
├── .gitignore
├── log2.txt
└── log.txt

And I've typed git init in this folder. I want to ignore everything except .gitignore, and all config.xml files.

These are the .gitignore I have tried:

1:

*
!.gitignore
!**/config.xml

2:

*
!.gitignore
!config/*/config.xml

3:

*
!.gitignore
!**/config.xml

git status shows .gitignore is the only untracked file with any one of the gitignore settings above.

I want all the config.xml files to be on the untracked files list too.

I've read the tutorial at atlassian. And I think that maybe it's the following rule that makes me not able to ignore everything except certain files under subdirectories.

I'm using git version 2.11.0.windows.1 in windows 10 operating system. Anyone knows why my .gitignore file is not working the way I expect?

Could you create a github repo without the gitignore so it's easier to simulate what you want? — Pedro Nascimento, Feb 20 '17 at 13:49
Hi, I just pushed the folder to github so that it's easier for everyone to simulate. — Brian, Feb 20 '17 at 13:52
That image you pasted (with the "Nope! Due to a ... quirk") is the key. See http://stackoverflow.com/a/37507408/1256452 — torek, Feb 20 '17 at 19:26
But how do you explain lapinkoira's `.gitignore` works for him, but not for me? — Brian, Feb 21 '17 at 01:53

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 20 '17 at 14:02

0

Cloned your repo.

With this .gitignore:

*
!.gitignore
!*/*/config.xml

It's ignoring everything but .gitignore and config files:

On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

    modified:   .gitignore
    modified:   config/subfolder/config.xml

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
.
├── config
│   ├── subfolder
│   │   ├── config.xml
│   │   └── ignoringthis
│   └── subfolder2
│       └── config.xml
├── log3.txt
└── newdir

Is that what you want?

answered Feb 20 '17 at 14:02

lapinkoira

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This `.gitignore` doesn't work on my computer. Are you also using windows operating system? – Brian Feb 20 '17 at 14:10
I don't see `modified: config/subfolder/config.xml` line on my computer – Brian Feb 20 '17 at 14:11
Ahh windows, can you try with !*\\*\\config.xml ? – lapinkoira Feb 20 '17 at 14:25

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

0

Thanks to torek's link, I finally come up with the following solution:

/**
!/**/
!.gitignore
!**/config.xml

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

1
1

answered Feb 21 '17 at 02:44

Brian

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You don't need all these double asterisks. The following should have the same outcome, at least it works for me with your example repo (although I'm on MacOS and not Windows). Empty spaces stand for newlines since I cannot insert a line break in the comments: `/* !/*/ !.gitignore !config.xml` – gucce Feb 22 '17 at 15:45
@gucce you are right. `/* !/*/ !.gitignore !config.xml` works on my computer. – Brian Feb 28 '17 at 13:15

git ignore everything except files in certain subdirectories

2 Answers2