Exclude files from Git tracking with .gitignore patterns and untrack already-committed files.
.gitignore Patterns
# .gitignore file
*.log # all .log files
/build # only root build/ folder
dist/ # any dist/ folder
!important.log # except this file
**/*.tmp # tmp files in any subfolder
doc/*.txt # txt in doc/ only
[Bb]uild/ # case-insensitive
# Common patterns
node_modules/
.env
.env.local
vendor/
__pycache__/
*.pyc
.DS_Store
.idea/
.vscode/
# Global gitignore
git config --global core.excludesFile ~/.gitignore_global
# Untrack already-tracked file
git rm --cached .env
git commit -m "stop tracking .env"