.gitignore is not ignoring my vim temporary files

Question

I'm having issues with my .gitignore file. I have done my research and have tried many methods. The steps below happen when I save my .gitignore

git rm -rf --cached *.php.*
git add .
git status
git commmit -m "some message"

Here's is what my .gitignore file looks like:

# Ignores anything that's a temp file created by vim
.*.s??
.*.*.s??

Here are the files it should be keeping from being tracked

# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#       .ajax.php.swn
#       .ajax.php.swo
#       .ajax.php.swp
#       .swervepay.php.swn
#       .swervepay.php.swo
#       .swervepay.php.swp
#       .swervepay_form.php.swm
#       .swervepay_form.php.swn
#       .swervepay_form.php.swp

What can I do to keep these files from gettin tracked? Everytime I do a git add . and commit to push up, those files get re-added. Any help would be greatful.

Answer 1

Use standard rules

There's a handy repository on github for ignore rules, for Vim the rules are:

# swap
[._]*.s[a-w][a-z]
[._]s[a-w][a-z]
# session
Session.vim
# temporary
.netrwhist
*~
# auto-generated tag files
tags

The best way to make use of rules like this are to put them in your global git ignore file:

git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore

Or put your swap files somewhere else

However it's probably a better idea to do this:

" ~/.vimrc file

" swap files (.swp) in a common location
" // means use the file's full path
set dir=~/.vim/_swap//

" backup files (~) in a common location if possible
set backup
set backupdir=~/.vim/_backup/,~/tmp,.

" turn on undo files, put them in a common location
set undofile
set undodir=~/.vim/_undo/

In this way vim won't be polluting your working copies with files, ignored or not =).