Re: git clean --exclude broken?

From: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Date: Dec 10, 2024, 02:23 UTC
Message-ID: <Z1emFS-L-f4caBJ1@tapette.crustytoothpaste.net>
In-Reply-To: <CABAKogZQ4bAh-KPE79q0W7iBBoRmxW26RK_6VSg=6Y-Sg68tig@mail.gmail.com>

On 2024-12-09 at 04:53:24, Homyee King wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> But if you try *git clean -xdn -e foo*, the *foo *will be excluded and not
> what you said *"it _adds_ to the ignore rules".  *It's the confusing part
> of *`-e` *option, and I think it should always exclude something within the
> given pattern.
> If we follow what you said, it should be *--include,* what do you think?

The `--exclude` option means "exclude this (mark this as ignored) additionally". I agree it could be misinterpreted, but `--include` could as well. The manual page says this about `-e`:

  Use the given exclude pattern in addition to the standard ignore rules
  (see gitignore(5)).

And the text says this about `-x`:

  Don’t use the standard ignore rules (see gitignore(5)), but still use
  the ignore rules given with -e options from the command line. This
  allows removing all untracked files, including build products. This
  can be used (possibly in conjunction with git restore or git reset) to
  create a pristine working directory to test a clean build.

That means that when you say `git clean -xdn -e foo`, Git ignores only `foo`, and says it will remove everything else that would normally be ignored (which is no longer ignored, and thus untracked). Remember that `git clean` only removes untracked files and directories, and `-x` just makes all files normally ignored untracked temporarily for the life of the command. Equivalent text exists in the description section of the manual page.

I don't think this is confusing or that the text is inaccurate, but of course if you want to submit a patch to improve the text, I'm sure we'd be happy to take a look.

-- 
brian m. carlson (they/them or he/him)
Toronto, Ontario, CA