# How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? 6 messages from 2012-04-03 to 2012-04-04. Participants: J. Bakshi, Matthieu Moy, Dirk Süsserott. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/30136 ## J. Bakshi, 2012-04-03 12:01 Subject: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: <20120403173111.5329d7ed@shiva.selfip.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20120403173111.5329d7ed%40shiva.selfip.org ``` Hello, Please consider the following folder structure ` ` ` ` foo/ foo/dir1/file1 foo/dir2/file2 foo/dir2/file3 ` ` ` ` ` ` ` I like to add the folder structure in a way that only foo/dir1/file1 is added to the git. foo/dir2 and foo/dir3 should be added to the git also to show the directory structure and not the contents of those folder. It is easy in SVN by --non-recursive switch, but how can I do this in git with .gitignore ? Thanks BTW: Please CC to me ``` ## Matthieu Moy, 2012-04-03 12:08 Subject: Re: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/vpqzkatc915.fsf%40bauges.imag.fr In-Reply-To: <20120403173111.5329d7ed@shiva.selfip.org> ``` "J. Bakshi" writes: > I like to add the folder structure in a way that only foo/dir1/file1 is added to > the git. foo/dir2 and foo/dir3 should be added to the git also to show > the directory > structure and not the contents of those folder. Git doesn't record the existance of directories. For Git, a directory exists if and only if it has some files in it. So, "foo/dir2 and foo/dir3 should be added to the git" cannot be done in Git. A common workaround is to create a dummy file, typically .gitignore, within the directories you want to add. Depending on the intended use of the directory, you may want this file to be empty (to tell your collaborators "there's nothing here for now, but there will be later"), or to contain '*' to mean "there will never be any tracked files in this directory". IOW, touch foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore git add foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore -- Matthieu Moy http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/ ``` ## J. Bakshi, 2012-04-03 12:22 Subject: Re: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: <201204031223.q33CMvQC004186@VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/201204031223.q33CMvQC004186%40VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:08:38 +0200 Matthieu Moy wrote: > "J. Bakshi" writes: > > > I like to add the folder structure in a way that only foo/dir1/file1 is added to > > the git. foo/dir2 and foo/dir3 should be added to the git also to show > > the directory > > structure and not the contents of those folder. > > Git doesn't record the existance of directories. For Git, a directory > exists if and only if it has some files in it. So, "foo/dir2 and > foo/dir3 should be added to the git" cannot be done in Git. > > A common workaround is to create a dummy file, typically .gitignore, > within the directories you want to add. Depending on the intended use of > the directory, you may want this file to be empty (to tell your > collaborators "there's nothing here for now, but there will be later"), > or to contain '*' to mean "there will never be any tracked files in this > directory". > > IOW, > > touch foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore > git add foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore > Thanks for your suggestion. So .gitignore for foo/dir2/ and foo/dir3/ should add those directories non recursively. Could you please suggest how can I add foo/dir1/file1 ? guess touch foo/dir1/.gitignore git add foo/dir1/ git add foo/dir1/file1 ?? ``` ## Dirk Süsserott, 2012-04-03 13:12 Subject: Re: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: <4F7AF740.9070906@dirk.my1.cc> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4F7AF740.9070906%40dirk.my1.cc In-Reply-To: <201204031223.q33CMvQC004186@VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com> ``` Am 03.04.2012 14:22 schrieb J. Bakshi: > On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:08:38 +0200 > Matthieu Moy wrote: > >> "J. Bakshi" writes: >> >>> I like to add the folder structure in a way that only foo/dir1/file1 is added to >>> the git. foo/dir2 and foo/dir3 should be added to the git also to show >>> the directory >>> structure and not the contents of those folder. >> >> Git doesn't record the existance of directories. For Git, a directory >> exists if and only if it has some files in it. So, "foo/dir2 and >> foo/dir3 should be added to the git" cannot be done in Git. >> >> A common workaround is to create a dummy file, typically .gitignore, >> within the directories you want to add. Depending on the intended use of >> the directory, you may want this file to be empty (to tell your >> collaborators "there's nothing here for now, but there will be later"), >> or to contain '*' to mean "there will never be any tracked files in this >> directory". >> >> IOW, >> >> touch foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore >> git add foo/dir2/.gitignore foo/dir3/.gitignore >> > > Thanks for your suggestion. > So .gitignore for foo/dir2/ and foo/dir3/ should add those directories non recursively. > > Could you please suggest how can I add foo/dir1/file1 ? > > guess > > touch foo/dir1/.gitignore > git add foo/dir1/ > git add foo/dir1/file1 > Almost ;-) Since foo/dir1 already contains file1 there's no need to add a .gitignore in dir1 (except, of course, you really want to ignore sth. in that directory). If this is your directory structure: foo/dir1/file1 foo/dir2 foo/dir3 foo/dir1/ is automatically added when you "git add foo/dir1/file1". To add the (empty) directories dir2 and dir3 you need some placeholder file in them because git does not track directories, only files (together with their path). Thus: touch foo/dir2/.gitignore touch foo/dir3/.gitignore git add foo/dir2/.gitignore git add foo/dir3/.gitignore If you add a directory (like "git add foo/dir1/) git will add all files in that directory (recursively), again, except for empty directories. HTH, Dirk ``` ## Matthieu Moy, 2012-04-03 13:15 Subject: Re: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/vpqaa2tc5xi.fsf%40bauges.imag.fr In-Reply-To: <201204031223.q33CMvQC004186@VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com> ``` "J. Bakshi" writes: > Could you please suggest how can I add foo/dir1/file1 ? > > guess > > touch foo/dir1/.gitignore > git add foo/dir1/ Not if you want only "file1" to be added. As I said, Git doesn't know and doesn't want to know about directories. So "git add directory/" is just a shorthand that adds all (non-ignored) files in this directory. > git add foo/dir1/file1 This last line alone will do it. -- Matthieu Moy http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/ ``` ## J. Bakshi, 2012-04-04 06:52 Subject: Re: How to add folder NON RECURSIVELY ? Message-ID: <201204040652.q346qaC8020941@VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/201204040652.q346qaC8020941%40VM-MailSafe-02.soltecsis.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:15:37 +0200 Matthieu Moy wrote: > "J. Bakshi" writes: > > > Could you please suggest how can I add foo/dir1/file1 ? > > > > guess > > > > touch foo/dir1/.gitignore > > git add foo/dir1/ > > Not if you want only "file1" to be added. As I said, Git doesn't know > and doesn't want to know about directories. So "git add directory/" is > just a shorthand that adds all (non-ignored) files in this directory. > > > git add foo/dir1/file1 > > This last line alone will do it. > Thanks a lot to all of you for your valuable suggestion. ```