gitinfoexclude

gitinfoexclude refers to the file located at .git/info/exclude within a Git repository. It is a repository‑specific ignore list used by Git to determine which files should be ignored when performing operations such as git add or git status. The file behaves in the same way as the project’s .gitignore file, except it applies only to the local checkout and not to other collaborators or to the remote repository.

The primary purpose of .git/info/exclude is to allow users to add ignore rules that are meaningful only to their own development environment—for example, local build artifacts, temporary logs, or operating‑system‑generated files such as __pycache__ or THUMBNAILS.db—that do not need to be shared with others. Because the file is not tracked by Git, it remains private and does not become part of the repository history.

Typical syntax in .git/info/exclude matches the patterns used in .gitignore: plain file names, directory names, glob patterns, and negated patterns prefixed with !. Lines beginning with # are treated as comments and ignored. The file may contain entries that override higher‑level ignore rules due to its position in the ignore hierarchy: entries in .gitignore are processed first, then .git/info/exclude.

Unlike .gitignore, .git/info/exclude is not included in commits, so it cannot be distributed to other contributors. For this reason, it is common practice to keep most ignore rules in a shared .gitignore file for the repository, while reserving .git/info/exclude for environment‑specific rules that no one else needs.

In summary, gitinfoexclude is a non‑tracked ignore file residing in .git/info, used to fine‑tune Git’s exclusion of files on a per‑checkout basis without affecting the repository’s shared configuration.