Question 1

What is a .gitignore file?

Accepted Answer

.gitignore tells Git which files or directories should not be version-tracked. It's commonly used to exclude build artifacts (node_modules, build), system files (.DS_Store), environment configs (.env), and IDE settings. Proper use of .gitignore keeps your repository clean.

Question 2

How do I create a .gitignore file?

Accepted Answer

Create a plain text file named .gitignore in your project root directory. Each line contains one ignore pattern. Supports wildcards (*.log), directory names (node_modules/), comments (#), and negation patterns (!important.log). Use this generator to quickly create one.

Question 3

Can .gitignore ignore files already tracked by Git?

Accepted Answer

No. Files already tracked by Git are not affected by .gitignore. To stop tracking a committed file, first remove it from version control with git rm --cached <file> (keeping the file locally), then add the .gitignore rule.

Question 4

What wildcards can I use in .gitignore?

Accepted Answer

* matches any string, ** matches nested directories, ? matches a single character, [abc] matches character sets. Examples: *.log matches all log files, build/** matches everything under the build directory, node_modules/ ignores the entire directory.

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