How to fix "gitignore not working" issue

How to fix gitignore not working issue.md

FYI: Created blog post with more details

How to fix ".gitignore not working" issue?

Sometimes git does not exclude files/folders added .gitignore especially if you had commited them before. Here is how to fix it. I am ignoring node_modules from Angular project as an example

1. Update .gitignore with the folder/file name you want to ignore. You can use anyone of the formats mentioned below (prefer format1)

### Format1  ###
node_modules/
node/

### Format2  ###
**/frontend/node_modules/**
**/frontend/node/**

2. Commit all the changes to git. Exclude the folder/files you don't want commit, in my case node_modules
3. Execute the following command to clear the cache

git rm -r --cached .

4. Execute git status command and it should output node_modules and sub directories marked for deletion
5. Now execute

git add .
git commit -m "fixed untracked files" 

6. That's it. Comment if you any questions.

---

Update: Windows users make sure your .gitignore uses UTF-8 rather than UTF-16. See comment for details

Also got this error lately. Turned out .gitignore file was saved with UTF-16 encoding (happened when I used npm package gitignore to generate a file). Just save it again with UTF-8 and it should work properly 😉

Excellent! Solved my problem, thanks.

Thankss a lot.. been trying to figure this out since days and this helped me out

Also got this error lately. Turned out .gitignore file was saved with UTF-16 enconding (happened when I used npm package gitignore to generate a file). Just save it again with UTF-8 and it should work properly 😉

It worked. Thank you!

Also got this error lately. Turned out .gitignore file was saved with UTF-16 enconding (happened when I used npm package gitignore to generate a file). Just save it again with UTF-8 and it should work properly 😉

This is exactly my problem!! Pretty crazy. Thank you!

I created my .gitignore on Win 10 using echo 3 > .gitignore and deleted the "3". Looks like Windows > is creating files in UTF-16 with BOM nowadays...

@Daniel-Chin yeah, I even had to have my powershell config saved with UTF-16 LE encoding. Otherwise some features wouldn't work. But it seems this was an issue with PS < 6. I see there's 7.1 already so let's try this one... 😉

7.1 works perfectly! Files are generated with proper UTF8 without BOM encoding 😃

thanks

perfect

It worked for me thanks 😊

It works! Thanks!

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Before doing possibly unnecessary commits to your project, check encoding of your .gitignore file

.gitignore should be in UTF-8

If it's not (happens for example in Powershell 5; install v.7 to fix it) then change it to UTF-8 and it should work properly.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

@SharakPL My .gitignore is an ASCII file, and clearing the cache solved my problem.

UTF-8 covers ascii, so switch to utf-8

OMD U HERO

Perfect solution...

This just isn't working no matter what I try. Every single solution online and still, git push -u origin main gives me the filesize error because the files in node_modules are too large.

@NoelleTGS don't commit node_modules to GitHub. Ignore them.

That's what the problem is, sorry I worded it weirdly. I'm trying to exclude that folder but it still pushes and I get the filesize error.

@NoelleTGS Show content of your .gitignore file and make sure it's in UTF-8.

Thank you! Worked perfect!

This might work for the ones that committed previously new file and at some point later they dont want it in the Github https://www.deployhq.com/git/faqs/removing-large-files-from-git-history

Also got this error lately. Turned out .gitignore file was saved with UTF-16 encoding (happened when I used npm package gitignore to generate a file). Just save it again with UTF-8 and it should work properly 😉

Thank you. :)

Thanks you. This saved a ton of time. I only wasted an hour before finding this.

Amazing solution to such an annoying issue. Specially with the git lens plugin of the VS code this had been bugging for months. Thanks a million !

Thanks. It works for me very well

Thanks. It really helped

Thanks, saved my day

Thank you!

For anyone adding any new file path or pattern to .gitignore, be sure to add a newline after the new entry at the bottom of the file if your editor doesn't automatically add it. This had me kicking myself for a while.

src\myFile.js
  <-- You need an empty line here

This is a best practice anyway and required by some languages.

Thank you for this, it helped a lot!

This solved my issue. Thanks! 👍

Thanks!!! You are the man.

Superhero 🦸

Perfect!!!

thank you!!

this is very helpful!

Thank you so much

Thanks for the help!

Thanks a lot for sharing it :)

The UTF-8 type seemed to be the issue. Ended up having to commit to delete, roll back, copy the file and make a new one once everything was synced back up. Git seems to be ignoring the file now.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Before doing possibly unnecessary commits to your project, check encoding of your .gitignore file

.gitignore should be in UTF-8

If it's not (happens for example in Powershell 5; install v.7 to fix it) then change it to UTF-8 and it should work properly.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

life savior!

Thanks! Worked a treat - saved the midnight oil :-)

Thanks !!!

Amazing! You are a hero.

Easiest way

• Delete node_modules folder
• Add node_modules in your .gitignore file
• Run git status it will show files to be deleted from git repo and modified .gitignore
• Run git add .
• Commit new changes git commit -m "Removed node_modules folder and added to .gitignore"
• Now check repository it will not contain node_modules anymore

Very bad advice for large repositories.

Very bad advice for large repositories.

How else to solve the problem then?

Thanks dude

perfect

Perfect and thank you

Perfect, solved the exact same problem. Thanks

Thank you a lot!

Man, I really need to look stuff like this up more often xD

2023 and still usefull information. Thanks

Thank You Bro

I can't thank you enough. This has been driving me batshit crazy for months.

Ur the man!

Thank you.

This solved my issue. Thanks! 👍

This works! Awesome!

Thanks, Sir!

Thanks
This works.