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.. role:: strike
.. _ignoring-files:
Ignoring Files
==============
Synopsis
--------
::
.stignore
Description
-----------
If some files should not be synchronized to (or from) other devices, a file called
``.stignore`` can be created containing file patterns to ignore. The ``.stignore``
file must be placed in the root of the synced folder (files in other locations are
not applied). The ``.stignore`` file itself will never be synced to other devices,
although it can ``#include`` files that *are* synchronized between devices. All
patterns are relative to the synced folder root. The contents of the ``.stignore``
file must be UTF-8 encoded.
.. note::
Note that ignored files can block removal of an otherwise empty directory.
See below for the (?d) prefix to allow deletion of ignored files.
Patterns
--------
The ``.stignore`` file contains a list of file or path patterns. The
*first* pattern that matches will decide the fate of a given file.
- Regular file names match themselves, i.e. the pattern ``foo`` matches
the files ``foo``, ``subdir/foo`` as well as any directory named
``foo``. Spaces are treated as regular characters, except for leading
and trailing spaces, which are automatically trimmed.
- **Asterisk** (``*``) matches zero or more characters in a filename, but does not
match the directory separator. ``te*ne`` matches ``telephone``,
``subdir/telephone`` but not ``tele/phone``.
- **Double asterisk** (``**``) matches as above, but also directory separators.
``te**ne`` matches ``telephone``, ``subdir/telephone`` and
``tele/sub/dir/phone``.
- **Question mark** (``?``) matches a single character that is not the directory
separator. ``te??st`` matches ``tebest`` but not ``teb/st`` or
``test``.
- **Square brackets** (``[]``) denote a character range: ``[a-z]`` matches
any lower case character.
- **Curly brackets** (``{}``) denote a set of comma separated alternatives:
``{banana,pineapple}`` matches either ``banana`` or ``pineapple``.
- **Backslash** (``\``) "escapes" a special character so that it loses its
special meaning. For example, ``\{banana\}`` matches ``{banana}`` exactly
and does not denote a set of alternatives as above.
.. note::
Escaped characters are not supported on Windows, where ``\`` is the
path separator. If you still need to match files that have square or
curly brackets in their names, one possible workaround is to replace
them with ``?``, which will then match any character. For example,
you can type ``?banana?`` to match both ``[banana]`` and
``{banana}``, and so on.
- A pattern beginning with ``/`` matches in the root of the synced folder only.
``/foo`` matches ``foo`` but not ``subdir/foo``.
- A pattern beginning with ``#include`` results in loading patterns
from the named file. It is an error for a file to not exist or be
included more than once. Note that while this can be used to include
patterns from a file in a subdirectory, the patterns themselves are
still relative to the synced folder *root*. Example:
``#include more-patterns.txt``.
Any ``#include`` directives inside a file loaded by ``#include`` require paths
specified relative to the directory containing the loaded file, rather than the
synchronised root directory.
- A pattern beginning with a ``!`` prefix negates the pattern: matching files
are *included* (that is, *not* ignored). This can be used to override
more general patterns that follow.
- A pattern beginning with a ``(?i)`` prefix enables case-insensitive pattern
matching. ``(?i)test`` matches ``test``, ``TEST`` and ``tEsT``. The
``(?i)`` prefix can be combined with other patterns, for example the
pattern ``(?i)!picture*.png`` indicates that ``Picture1.PNG`` should
be synchronized. On Mac OS and Windows, patterns are always case-insensitive.
- A pattern beginning with a ``(?d)`` prefix enables removal of these files if
they are preventing directory deletion. This prefix should be used by any OS
generated files which you are happy to be removed.
- A line beginning with ``//`` is a comment and has no effect. The same double
slashes in any other place are interpreted literally, e.g. trying to do
``file // comment`` will make Syncthing look for a file called ``file // comment``.
.. note::
Prefixes can be specified in any order (e.g. "(?d)(?i)"), but cannot be in a
single pair of parentheses (not ":strike:`(?di)`").
.. note::
Include patterns (that begin with ``!``) cause Syncthing to traverse
the entire directory tree regardless of other ignore patterns.
If the :ref:`watcher <scanning>` is enabled, the entire directory
tree will be watched as well.
Top-level include patterns are treated as special cases and will not force Syncthing to
scan (or watch) the entire directory tree. For example: ``!/foo`` is a top-level include
pattern, while ``!/foo/bar`` is not.
Example
-------
Given a directory layout starting at the synced folder's root::
.DS_Store
.stignore
foo
foofoo
bar/
baz
quux
quuz
bar2/
baz
frobble
My Pictures/
Img15.PNG
and an ``.stignore`` file with the contents::
(?d).DS_Store
!frobble
!quuz
foo
*2
qu*
(?i)my pictures
all files and directories called "foo", ending in a "2" or starting with
"qu" will be ignored. The end result becomes::
.DS_Store # ignored, will be deleted if gets in the way of parent directory removal
foo # ignored, matches "foo"
foofoo # synced, does not match "foo" but would match "foo*" or "*foo"
bar/ # synced
baz # synced
quux # ignored, matches "qu*"
quuz # synced, matches "qu*" but is excluded by the preceding "!quuz"
bar2/ # synced, despite matching "*2" due to child frobble
baz # ignored, due to parent being ignored
frobble # synced, due to "!frobble"
My Pictures/ # ignored, matched case insensitive "(?i)my pictures" pattern
Img15.PNG # ignored, due to parent being ignored
.. note::
Please note that directory patterns ending with a slash
``some/directory/`` matches the content of the directory, but not the
directory itself. If you want the pattern to match the directory and its
content, make sure it does not have a ``/`` at the end of the pattern.
.. versionadded:: 1.19.0
Default patterns can be configured which will take effect when automatically
accepting a folder from a remote device. The GUI suggests same the patterns
when adding a folder manually. In either case, the ``.stignore`` file is
created with these defaults if none is present yet.
|
