How do I configure git to ignore some files locally?

Question

Can I ignore files locally without polluting the global git config for everyone else? I have untracked files that are spam in my git status but I don\'t want to commit git c

Answer 1

You can install some git aliases to make this process simpler. This edits the [alias] node of your .gitconfig file.

git config --global alias.ignore 'update-index --skip-worktree'
git config --global alias.unignore 'update-index --no-skip-worktree'
git config --global alias.ignored '!git ls-files -v | grep "^S"'

The shortcuts this installs for you are as follows:

• git ignore config.xml
  • git will pretend that it doesn't see any changes upon config.xml — preventing you from accidentally committing those changes.
• git unignore config.xml
  • git will resume acknowledging your changes to config.xml — allowing you again to commit those changes.
• git ignored
  • git will list all the files which you are "ignoring" in the manner described above.

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I built these by referring to phatmann's answer — which presents an --assume-unchanged version of the same.

The version I present uses --skip-worktree for ignoring local changes. See Borealid's answer for a full explanation of the difference, but essentially --skip-worktree's purpose is for developers to change files without the risk of committing their changes.

The git ignored command presented here uses git ls-files -v, and filters the list to show just those entries beginning with the S tag. The S tag denotes a file whose status is "skip worktree". For a full list of the file statuses shown by git ls-files: see the documentation for the -t option on git ls-files.