zettel - Check non-trivial gitignore patterns using `git check-ignore`

Check non-trivial gitignore patterns using `git check-ignore`

Today I ran into an issue where I tried creating a new bin/ dir in a git repo, and trying to add the files within to a new commit, but was greeted by:

$ git add bin/README.md

The following paths are ignored by one of your .gitignore files:
bin
hint: Use -f if you really want to add them.
hint: Turn this message off by running
hint: "git config advice.addIgnoredFile false"

Confused, I ran a simple grep on the project’s .gitignore:

$ grep bin .gitignore

which yielded nothing. I was pretty sure I didn’t have that pattern set in my global gitignore, either.

A quick internet search turned up a git util that is new to me:

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-check-ignore

Using this command, I was able to trace the exact line responsible:

git check-ignore -v bin

.gitignore:123:[Bb]in   bin

Ohhhhh, oops. Well, that makes sense. Neat! This could’ve been solved with a more sophisticated grep pattern, but who has time for that?

Tags: git

Created: 2021-03-19T09:30:00Z · Updated: 2021-03-19T19:40:30Z

Check non-trivial gitignore patterns using git check-ignore

Check non-trivial gitignore patterns using `git check-ignore`