Why doesn't Git ignore my specified file?

Question

I added the following line to .gitignore:

sites/default/settings.php

but when I type git status it shows the file

Answer 1

Another possible reason – a few instances of git clients running at the same time. For example "git shell" + "GitHub Desktop", etc.

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This happened to me, I was using "GitHub Desktop" as the main client and it was ignoring some new .gitignore settings: commit after commit:

1. You commit something.
2. Next, commit: it ignores .gitignore settings. Commit includes lots of temp files mentioned in the .gitignore.
3. Clear git cache; check whether .gitignore is UTF8; remove files -> commit -> move files back; skip 1 commit – nothing helped.

Reason: the Visual Studio Code editor was running in the background with the same opened repository. VS Code has built-in git control, and this makes some conflicts.

Solution: double-check multiple, hidden git clients and use only one git client at once, especially while clearing git cache.