git ignore vim temporary files

Question

What is the correct way to make git ignore temporary files produced by vim in all directories (either globally across the system or locally for a single project)?

Answer 1

Alternatively you can configure vim to save the swapfiles to a separate location, e.g. by adding lines similar to the following to your .vimrc file:

set backupdir=$TEMP//
set directory=$TEMP//

See this vim tip for more info.