# gitignore documentation for info/exclude files and patterns with relative directories 3 messages from 2026-03-27 to 2026-03-28. Participants: Dan Drake, Junio C Hamano, Shreyansh Paliwal. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/65368 ## Dan Drake, 2026-03-27 11:20 Subject: gitignore documentation for info/exclude files and patterns with relative directories Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/Qdk5yVH_yWgKl_bjCjdasusfe3PuzHCZ2rKgKIn2Xx5rcw46jmQDfA6K2vkv3V3XLSy4aqwyUlfVEmF5VlIv3EVEOlZLEnf-paw11tyhZKE%3D%40dandrake.org ``` Hello, In the "pattern format" section of the gitignore manpage, it says: > The slash "/" is used as the directory separator. Separators may occur at the > beginning, middle or end of the .gitignore search pattern. > > If there is a separator at the beginning or middle (or both) of the pattern, > then the pattern is relative to the directory level of the particular > .gitignore file itself. Otherwise the pattern may also match at any > level below the .gitignore level. For a .git/info/exclude file, the above makes it sound like the pattern will be relative to that .git/info directory, so that you would need to use this kind of p attern to match files starting with 'foo' in the root of the repo: ../../foo* However, it seems that for patterns in the info/exclude file, the beginning slash anchors the pattern to the root of the repo; the above pattern in that file should be '/foo*'. The documentation should mention this behavior for info/exclude, as well as the core.excludesFile. Dan -- Ceci n'est pas une .signature. ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2026-03-27 16:18 Subject: Re: gitignore documentation for info/exclude files and patterns with relative directories Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqwlyxkzyy.fsf%40gitster.g In-Reply-To: ``` Dan Drake writes: > The documentation should mention this behavior for info/exclude, as well as > the core.excludesFile. Yup, my mistake more than 20-year-old that nobody complained so far ;-) Yes, these exclude pattern sources that are outside the working tree behave as if they are specified at the root level of the working tree. Patches welcome. Thanks. ``` ## Shreyansh Paliwal, 2026-03-28 15:21 Subject: [PATCH] doc: gitignore: clarify pattern base for info/exclude and core.excludesFile Message-ID: <20260328152233.1140327-1-shreyanshpaliwalcmsmn@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20260328152233.1140327-1-shreyanshpaliwalcmsmn%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` The pattern format section describes how patterns are interpreted relative to the location of a .gitignore file, but does not mention the behavior for exclude sources outside the working tree. Clarify that patterns from $GIT_DIR/info/exclude and core.excludesFile are treated as if they are specified at the root of the working tree, so a leading '/' anchors matches at the repository root. Reported-by: Dan Drake Signed-off-by: Shreyansh Paliwal --- Documentation/gitignore.adoc | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.adoc b/Documentation/gitignore.adoc index 9fccab4ae8..a3d24e5c34 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitignore.adoc +++ b/Documentation/gitignore.adoc @@ -96,6 +96,11 @@ PATTERN FORMAT particular `.gitignore` file itself. Otherwise the pattern may also match at any level below the `.gitignore` level. + - Patterns read from exclude sources that are outside the working tree, + such as $GIT_DIR/info/exclude and core.excludesFile, are treated as if + they are specified at the root of the working tree, i.e. a leading "/" + in such patterns anchors the match at the root of the repository. + - If there is a separator at the end of the pattern then the pattern will only match directories, otherwise the pattern can match both files and directories. -- 2.53.0 ```