Getting Started › File and Directory Exclusion

File and Directory Exclusion

When you perform synchronize operations, you may want to exclude certain files and directories in your project from being committed to the repository. For example, you may not want to commit the following files:

• Temporary files that external editors create
• Class files that Java compilations create
• Binary files that build operations create

These files can be numerous and they may be regenerated whenever a build is performed, resulting in a large number of outgoing changes. Typically, these are not files that you want to remain in the repository or share with other members of a team.

You can specify which files and directories should be excluded from update and commit operations in the following ways:

• Use the Ignored Resources preferences
• Use the .scmignore file

You can use the following wildcards to specify patterns:

asterisk (*)

Represents any sequence of zero or more characters. For example, the pattern of *~ matches any temporary files that end with ~.

question mark (?)

Represents any single character.