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Created October 19, 2025 04:26
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how ignore files work in vscode
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how ignore files work in vscode.md

how can folders be ignored from search in vscode will gitignore work. and no i dont want to use the exclude feature.

Yes, .gitignore does work in VS Code to exclude folders from search by default. VS Code automatically respects .gitignore files and filters out gitignored files and folders from both file search (Ctrl+P) and content search (Ctrl+Shift+F).12

How VS Code Uses .gitignore

VS Code has a setting called search.useIgnoreFiles that is enabled by default, which tells VS Code to respect .gitignore and other ignore files when performing searches. When you search for files or content, anything listed in your .gitignore will automatically be excluded from results.31

Alternative: Using .ignore Files

If you want to ignore folders from VS Code search without affecting Git, you can create a .ignore file in your project root. VS Code recognizes both .gitignore and .ignore files. This is useful when you want different ignore rules for VS Code than for Git.2

For example, if a file is in .gitignore but you want VS Code to still search it, you can negate the rule in .ignore:2

.gitignore:

.env.local

.ignore:

!.env.local

This brings the file back into VS Code search results while keeping it ignored by Git.2

Toggle Button in Search UI

There's a gear/cogwheel icon in the search panel labeled "Use Exclude Settings and Ignore Files" that you can toggle on/off to temporarily enable or disable all ignore files (including .gitignore) without changing settings. This is useful when you occasionally need to search everything without permanently changing your configuration.43 56789101112131415161718

⁂

.ignore file. what should it contain to ignore all files in a folder to be escluded from search

To exclude all files in a folder from VS Code search using a .ignore file, you need to create a file named .ignore in your project root and use the same syntax as .gitignore.192021

Syntax for Excluding Folders

To exclude a specific folder and all its contents, add one of these patterns to your .ignore file:

folder-name/

or

**/folder-name

Examples

To exclude a single folder:

node_modules/

To exclude multiple folders:

node_modules/
dist/
.angular/
build/
cache/
uploads/

To exclude folders at any depth:

**/cache/
**/build/

The **/ pattern means the folder will be excluded regardless of where it appears in your project structure.222021

How It Works

Once you create the .ignore file with these patterns, VS Code will automatically respect it when you perform searches (Ctrl+Shift+F), as long as the "Use Ignore Files" setting is enabled. The .ignore file works independently from .gitignore, so you can have different exclusion rules for VS Code search versus Git version control.2119

Simply list each folder you want to exclude on a separate line, and VS Code will filter them out from all search results automatically.2022 2324252627

⁂

so an .ignore file with "**/" inside a folder will then let search ifnore all of its content in its entire hierarchy right?

No, that's not quite right. The pattern **/ by itself doesn't work as a valid ignore pattern. Let me clarify how this actually works:

How .ignore Files Work

The .ignore file needs to be placed at your project root (not inside the folder you want to ignore), and you need to specify the folder name in the pattern.2829

Correct Patterns to Ignore All Folder Contents

If you want to ignore a folder named my-folder and all its contents at any level of your project hierarchy, place a .ignore file at the project root with one of these patterns:

Option 1 (simplest):

my-folder/

This ignores any directory named my-folder anywhere in your project and everything inside it.2928

Option 2 (explicit):

my-folder/**

The /** suffix explicitly means "match everything inside with infinite depth".29

Option 3 (match at any level):

**/my-folder

The **/ prefix means "match in all directories at any level".2829

Understanding the Pattern Components

  • **/ at the beginning = match at any directory level29
  • /** at the end = match everything inside with infinite depth29
  • / at the end = indicates this is a directory pattern2829

The pattern **/ alone doesn't specify what to match, so it won't work by itself.29 3031323334353637

⁂

okay. so .ignore file must be in root. it cant be inside different folders?

Actually, .ignore files can be placed in subdirectories, not just the root. This works similarly to how .gitignore files function.38

How .ignore Files Work in Subdirectories

Just like .gitignore files, you can place a .ignore file in any folder within your project. When you do this:38

  • The ignore patterns in that file apply to that folder and all its subfolders at any nested depth38
  • Patterns in a subfolder's .ignore file take precedence over patterns in parent folders38
  • Each .ignore file's scope is relative to its own location38

Practical Example

If you have this structure:

project/
├── .ignore (root level)
└── my-folder/
    └── .ignore (subfolder level)

The .ignore file inside my-folder/ will control what gets ignored specifically within that folder and its children. This is useful when you want different ignore rules for different parts of your project.38

Pattern Scoping

When a .ignore file is in a subdirectory, its patterns are relative to that folder's location, not the project root. So if you put a .ignore file inside my-folder/ with the pattern cache/, it would ignore my-folder/cache/, not project-root/cache/.38

This gives you flexibility to have project-wide ignore rules at the root and folder-specific rules in subdirectories.38 394041424344454647

⁂

so if ii place .ignore file inside a folder. what must I put in its content the .ignore file, so that everythiing inside that folder is ignored?

To ignore everything inside a folder where you've placed the .ignore file, you need to put these patterns in the file content:

*
**/

or more comprehensively:

**/*

How This Works

When you place a .ignore file inside a folder, the patterns are relative to that folder's location. The wildcard patterns work as follows:48

  • * matches all files in the current directory (zero or more characters, excluding the / character)49
  • **/ matches all subdirectories at any depth48
  • **/* combines both to match everything recursively

Recommended Content

The simplest and most comprehensive pattern to put in your .ignore file located inside the folder would be:

*

This single line will ignore all files and folders within that directory where the .ignore file is placed. Since the .ignore file uses the same syntax as .gitignore, and patterns are scoped relative to the file's location, this effectively tells VS Code to ignore everything in that folder and all its subdirectories.4948

Important Note

The .ignore file itself won't be ignored by this pattern, but that doesn't affect functionality since VS Code doesn't typically index or search through .ignore files anyway. 50515253545556

⁂

Footnotes

  1. https://www.webdevluis.com/blog/vscode-search-specific-ignored-files ↩ ↩2

  2. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55949132/vscode-how-to-get-file-search-not-content-to-include-git-ignored-files ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://bobbyhadz.com/blog/exclude-folders-from-search-in-vscode ↩ ↩2

  4. https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/95757 ↩

  5. https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/6927 ↩

  6. https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/125858 ↩

  7. https://daveredfern.com/hide-or-exclude-folders-and-files-from-search-in-visual-studio-code/ ↩

  8. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/ignore-files?view=azure-devops ↩

  9. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Code-Search-should-respect-gitignore/10469311 ↩

  10. https://taurit.pl/vs-code-exclude-from-search-team-shared/ ↩

  11. https://dev.to/thebuzzsaw/why-are-these-the-gitignore-rules-for-vs-code-3p03 ↩

  12. https://ignored405.rssing.com/index.php ↩

  13. https://one-tip-a-week.beehiiv.com/p/one-tip-a-week-the-exclude-git-ignore-vs-code-setting ↩

  14. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29971600/choose-folders-to-be-ignored-during-search-in-vs-code ↩

  15. https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/1d5vh7g/how_to_ignore_files_in_quick_search/ ↩

  16. https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/149349 ↩

  17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9s6ebZA7to ↩

  18. https://developerf1.com/snippet/exclude-folders-from-search-in-vs-code ↩

  19. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29971600/choose-folders-to-be-ignored-during-search-in-vs-code ↩ ↩2

  20. https://daveredfern.com/hide-or-exclude-folders-and-files-from-search-in-visual-studio-code/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. https://bobbyhadz.com/blog/exclude-folders-from-search-in-vscode ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. https://developerf1.com/snippet/exclude-folders-from-search-in-vs-code ↩ ↩2

  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9s6ebZA7to ↩

  24. https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/214003 ↩

  25. https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/ls58cl/excluding_an_entire_folder_except_some_folders/ ↩

  26. https://github.com/uctakeoff/vscode-counter/issues/1 ↩

  27. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/configure/settings ↩

  28. https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/saving-changes/gitignore ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  29. https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  30. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29971600/choose-folders-to-be-ignored-during-search-in-vs-code ↩

  31. https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/1d5vh7g/how_to_ignore_files_in_quick_search/ ↩

  32. https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/779 ↩

  33. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/glob-patterns ↩

  34. https://docs.sonarsource.com/sonarqube-for-vs-code/using/file-exclusions ↩

  35. https://eslint.org/docs/latest/use/configure/ignore ↩

  36. https://www.w3schools.com/git/git_ignore.asp ↩

  37. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editing/codebasics ↩

  38. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/ignore-files?view=azure-devops ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  39. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29971600/choose-folders-to-be-ignored-during-search-in-vs-code ↩

  40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4I2anhV4Qs ↩

  41. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/configure/settings ↩

  42. https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/ls58cl/excluding_an_entire_folder_except_some_folders/ ↩

  43. https://dev.to/marcdomain/ignoreit-vscode-extension-to-automatically-ignore-files-and-folders-1lf ↩

  44. https://docs.sonarsource.com/sonarqube-for-vs-code/using/file-exclusions ↩

  45. https://www.phpdeveloper.org.uk/exclude-files-from-searches-in-visual-studio-code/ ↩

  46. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editing/workspaces/workspace-trust ↩

  47. https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/1ka31ap/can_i_hide_these_files/ ↩

  48. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/ignore-files?view=azure-devops ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  49. https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/how-to-use-gitignore/ ↩ ↩2

  50. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29971600/choose-folders-to-be-ignored-during-search-in-vs-code ↩

  51. https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/53668 ↩

  52. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editing/workspaces/multi-root-workspaces ↩

  53. https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/82145 ↩

  54. https://www.reddit.com/r/git/comments/1fxvp4s/gitignore_directory_and_its_contents_except_all/ ↩

  55. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/glob-patterns ↩

  56. https://forum.restic.net/t/how-to-exclude-only-subdirs-not-files-but-keep-one-certain-subdir/5640 ↩

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