Have .gitignore to NOT ignore an .htaccess file within top level directory

Question

I am trying to ignore ALL files except the .htaccess file within the www directory.

I have this:

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
# Except this file
!.gitignore
!/www/.htaccess

And I have also tried this:

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
# Except this file
!.gitignore
!www/.htaccess

When I run git status I don't see .htaccess as being an added file. I have tried committing the .gitignore file. Still nothing. I am missing something obvious, no?

Update

I have also tried these:

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
*/\.htaccess

# Except these files
!.gitignore
!www/\.htaccess

and

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
*/.htaccess

# Except these files
!.gitignore
!www/.htaccess

Answer 1

I tried some sample steps on my machine, try them and check if they work for you.

cd ~/Desktop/test
mkdir www && touch .gitignore www/.gitkeep www/.htaccess www/file1 www/file2
git init && git add www/.gitkeep && git commit -m "gitkeep to make www trackable"

Doing git status will now show you

.gitignore
www/.htaccess
www/file1
www/file2

Now, In your .gitignore file, add the following two entries

www/*
!www/.htaccess

Doing a git status now shows

.gitignore
www/.htaccess

You can now add these two files using git add . and commit them.

Also, once you are convinced that the said commands work, you can remove the www/.gitkeep I generate in my example (It was added to keep www trackable, git doesn't version folders) and add www/.htaccess instead to reduce the overhead of redundant files.

Answer 2

In my own experience the below solution is much more simple than the accepted answer.

Add the following to your .gitignore file

www/*
!www/.htaccess

Now you are done!

The Explanation

To break it down www/* ignores all occupants of the "www" directory but not the directory itself, as the /www command would.

Next we declare our explicit exception !www/.htaccess as you've attempted in your question.

It only takes two lines in the .gitignore file and it works like a charm.