How to git-ignore Cached Code files and all Hidden Directories Recursively in a Git Repository!

Sometimes, while coding, we forget to add a .gitignore file that includes list of files or directories to ignore when pushed to a remote repository.

Then we forgetfully pushes the code and see there are unnecessary cache files or hidden directories/files present in the online repository, which causes pain for other collaborators.

If you accidentally have done so, just follow these steps, and you are good to go.

Steps

1. Check how many hidden directories are there using the following command.

    find . -type d -name '.[^.]*' -prune -exec echo rm -rf {} +
   

   once you find out, and have no issue with deleting each of the listed hidden directories, remove the echo from the above command.

    find . -type d -name '.[^.]*' -prune -exec rm -rf {} +
   

   Careful if you already have a .git directory!

2. Delete the __pycache__ folders from all the directories in the same way

    find . -type d -name '__py[^.]*' -prune -exec rm -rf {} +
   

3. Finally, create a .gitignore file and add the followings:

    **/__pycache__/
    .*
    !/.gitignore
   

Pro Tips

To avoid adding a particular named file or directory, for example., to ignore.DS_Store files in every subfolder for all repositories in the computer, do the following: $ echo .DS_Store >> ~/.gitignore_global $ git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Now, if you do git add --all, it will not automatically include these particular directories created again while working in the local machine.

References

1. How to ignore all hidden directories/files recursively in a git repository?

2. Recursively delete hidden directory & its files?
3. .gitignore all the .DS_Store files in every folder and subfolder