Merge branch 'nd/doc-ignore' into maint

[git.git] / Documentation / gitignore.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index 2e7328b8306f4e949e22456b33d495226c1f014b..1b82fe1969ed1cf965d946178a423771dd3cfe5f 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -41,16 +41,24 @@ precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
    variable 'core.excludesfile'.
 
 Which file to place a pattern in depends on how the pattern is meant to
-be used. Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
-other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
-to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file. Patterns which are
-specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
-with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
-the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
-the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file.  Patterns which a user wants git to
-ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
-the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
-`core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`.
+be used.
+
+ * Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
+   other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
+   to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file.
+
+ * Patterns which are
+   specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared
+   with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside
+   the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into
+   the `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` file.
+
+ * Patterns which a user wants git to
+   ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
+   the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
+   `core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`. Its default value is
+   $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/ignore. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is either not set or
+   empty, $HOME/.config/git/ignore is used instead.
 
 The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
 'git ls-files' and 'git read-tree', read
@@ -66,11 +74,15 @@ PATTERN FORMAT
    for readability.
 
  - A line starting with # serves as a comment.
+   Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first hash for patterns
+   that begin with a hash.
 
- - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
+ - An optional prefix "`!`" which negates the pattern; any
    matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
    included again.  If a negated pattern matches, this will
    override lower precedence patterns sources.
+   Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first "`!`" for patterns
+   that begin with a literal "`!`", for example, "`\!important!.txt`".
 
  - If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the
    purpose of the following description, but it would only find