How to make git ignore a sub directory group with gitignore pattern?

Question

I've a directory projects/ in root directory. the root directory is added to git. in projects I've several subdirectories. But I want to track only projects/admin not projects/x nor projects/y. What ignore rule I need to write in .gitignore ?

Answer 1

You can use a negative ignore clauses, e.g.:

project/*
!project/admin
!project/admin/*

Answer 2

projects/*
!projects/admin

The ! prefix before a line negates it; i.e. the directory or file given in that line will not be ignored.