X-Git-Url: https://asedeno.scripts.mit.edu/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgitignore.txt;h=e847b3ba63f3fae3d5497d6ede1ea0ee416a74de;hb=923d44aeb7cb6d21eeb459fdc1b58137e37c2b1c;hp=ea79d74b8896a9f6d9681b37a5d3ca373d5bc6cf;hpb=f8db7884286232274c8e7c7d82a35a2478b097d3;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index ea79d74b8..e847b3ba6 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -18,26 +18,31 @@ pattern.
 
 When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
 `gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
-order of precedence:
+order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
+precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
 
- * Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
-   variable 'core.excludesfile'.
-
- * Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
+ * Patterns read from the command line for those commands that support
+   them.
 
  * Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
-   as the path, or in any parent directory, ordered from the
-   deepest such file to a file in the root of the repository.
+   as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
+   higher level files (up to the root) being overridden by those in
+   lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
    These patterns match relative to the location of the
    `.gitignore` file.  A project normally includes such
    `.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for
    files generated as part of the project build.
 
+ * Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
+
+ * Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
+   variable 'core.excludesfile'.
+
 The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
-gitlink:git-ls-files[1] and gitlink:git-read-tree[1], read
+linkgit:git-ls-files[1] and linkgit:git-read-tree[1], read
 `gitignore` patterns specified by command-line options, or from
 files specified by command-line options.  Higher-level git
-tools, such as gitlink:git-status[1] and gitlink:git-add[1],
+tools, such as linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-add[1],
 use patterns from the sources specified above.
 
 Patterns have the following format:
@@ -49,7 +54,15 @@ Patterns have the following format:
 
  - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
    matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
-   included again.
+   included again.  If a negated pattern matches, this will
+   override lower precedence patterns sources.
+
+ - If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the
+   purpose of the following description, but it would only find
+   a match with a directory.  In other words, `foo/` will match a
+   directory `foo` and paths underneath it, but will not match a
+   regular file or a symbolic link `foo` (this is consistent
+   with the way how pathspec works in general in git).
 
  - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
    a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
@@ -113,4 +126,4 @@ Frank Lichtenheld, and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 
 GIT
 ---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite