Force add despite the .gitignore file

Question

Is there a way to force git to add a file despite the .gitignore file?

Answer 1

See man git-add:

   -f, --force
       Allow adding otherwise ignored files.

So run this

git add --force my/ignore/file.foo

Answer 2

Despite Daniel Böhmer's working solution, Ohad Schneider offered a better solution in a comment:

If the file is usually ignored, and you force adding it - it can be accidentally ignored again in the future (like when the file is deleted, then a commit is made and the file is re-created.

You should just un-ignore it in the .gitignore file like that: Unignore subdirectories of ignored directories in Git

Answer 3

Another way of achieving it would be to temporary edit the gitignore file, add the file and then revert back the gitignore. A bit hacky i feel