cannot add folder to gitignore file

Question

My .gitignore file is the following:

$ cat .gitignore
Index/
Index/LOG

I added .gitignore file to repo, commit and even push. But git status permanently shows:

# On branch master
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#   modified:   Index/LOG
#

So how to exclude whole Index folder from git repository forever?

if `Index/LOG` was added, you should delete it out. – Daniel A. White Aug 30 '13 at 19:05 — Daniel A. White, Aug 30 '13 at 19:05

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 30 '13 at 19:14

9

Git doesn't ignore tracked files. You need to delete that file from the repository before it will be ignored:

$ git rm -r Index
$ git commit -m "Deleting 'Index' folder."

This will remove the files. If you only want to remove them from the index use --cached:

$ git rm -r --cached Index

This will keep all files in the file-system and only removes them from git.

edited Aug 30 '13 at 19:14

hakre

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answered Aug 30 '13 at 19:07

Carl Norum

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

0

To exclude the the Index folder, remove it and commit the changes. This is outlined in:

How to remove a directory in my GitHub repository?

That simple it is. If you only want to update the index telling git that nothing changed even it changed, use the update-index commmand:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/11366713/367456

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered Aug 30 '13 at 19:06

hakre

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cannot add folder to gitignore file

2 Answers2