git status shows a file that I have listed explicitly in my .gitignore file

Question

I have the following line in my .gitignore file:

var/www/docs/.backroom/billing_info/inv.pl

but when I type \'git status\' I am told the follow

Answer 1

That should only happen if inv.pl is already tracked (see gitignore man page).

Try (with git rm) a:

git rm --cached var/www/docs/.backroom/billing_info/inv.pl

If the file is already committed, see this SO answer.