Why does .gitignore use an empty basename?

Question

Any time I see a .gitignore file in a Git repository, I can't help but notice that, aside from the file extension, the filename is completely empty. Because of this, I've often seen new programmers run into the "You must enter a filename" error on Windows when learning Git for the first time.

Other standard files such as README.md include basenames, so it seems odd to exclude the name for .gitignore.

Is there a reason .gitignore's basename is always empty? Would the file still work properly if it were given a filename like project-name.gitignore?

filenames with . in front are a convention for "hidden" files on unix. .gitignore can be viewed like a hidden file with no extension. Windows doesn't approve of it much though. — byxor
– byxor, Commented Nov 7, 2017 at 15:14
I think just to hide the file from normal user, So that user does not change it by mistake. — Raman Sharma
– Raman Sharma, Commented Nov 7, 2017 at 15:42
I view .gitignore as a file name with no extension. If it had an extension, it would be, e.g., .gitignore.txt. But what is the extension of a file named a.b.c.d.e? Is it d.e, or b.c.d.e? It's clearly not .e: that would be silly! :-) — torek
– torek, Commented Nov 7, 2017 at 19:04

1615903 · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-08 07:56:21Z

As stated by others in the comments, a dot in front of a filename implies a hidden file in unix/linux systems.

Would the file still work properly if it were given a filename like project-name.gitignore?

No, it would not. Git only looks for file named .gitignore (plus your global ignore file defined in config).

Other standard files such as README.md include basenames, so it seems odd to exclude the name for .gitignore.

README.md is not a standard file in Git, it is something that many hosting providers use. Standard git files such as .gitignore and .gitattributes have a consistent naming convention.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Why does .gitignore use an empty basename?

1 Answer 1

Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Linked

Related