What Are the Differences between .gitignore and .gitkeep?

.gitignore and .gitkeep are two different files used in Git repositories for distinct purposes:

.gitignore

• The .gitignore file is used to specify intentionally untracked files that Git should ignore.
• It contains a list of file patterns or paths that Git should ignore when performing operations like git status, git add, and git commit.
• You typically add files like build artifacts, temporary files, logs, and dependency directories to .gitignore to prevent them from being accidentally committed to the repository.
• Git will not track or commit any files matching the patterns specified in .gitignore.
• .gitignore does not affect tracked files already in the repository.

.gitkeep

• The .gitkeep file is not a standard Git feature but rather a convention used by some projects.
• It is an empty file (or sometimes a file with a single line of content) placed in an otherwise empty directory to force Git to track the directory.
• Git does not track empty directories by default. When you try to add an empty directory to Git, it will be ignored.
• By adding a .gitkeep file to an empty directory, you signal to Git that the directory should be tracked, even if it's empty.
• This convention is often used in projects to maintain directory structures in source control, even if the directories do not contain any files initially.

Note:

• .gitignore is a standard feature of Git, whereas .gitkeep is a convention used by some projects.
• .gitignore is used to specify files that Git should ignore, while .gitkeep is used to force Git to track otherwise empty directories.
• Both files serve different purposes and are used in different contexts within a Git repository.

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