.gitignore: How do I ignore nested directories?

Question

I have the following directory structure:

test/a
test/b/c
test/a/b/Ouput
test/c/d/e/Output
test/f/Output

I want to ignore all the "Output" directories under "test". I tried test/**/Output, but it didn't work. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You said you want the Output/ pattern to match only under the test/ directory, so in the test/ directory, create a .gitignore file with the contents:

Output/

If you put this pattern in your top-level .gitignore file, then it will match in all directories under the top directory.

Answer 2

Since version 1.8.2 (March, 8th 2013), git supports ** in .gitignore files, so using test/**/Output/ will ignore only Output sub-directories under test directory.