Git .gitattributes

What is .gitattributes ?

The .gitattributes file is a special file that tells Git how to handle specific files in your repository.

It controls things like line endings, file types, merge behavior, custom diff tools, and more.

Everyone on your team gets the same settings because this file is versioned with your project.

For more about Git LFS, see the dedicated page.

When to Use .gitattributes

• To enforce consistent line endings across different operating systems
• To mark files as binary (so Git doesn't try to merge or change them)
• To enable Git LFS for large files
• To set up custom diff or merge tools for special file types
• To control how files are exported in archives

Create or Edit .gitattributes

1. Go to the root of your repository (or a subfolder for local rules).
2. Create or edit the .gitattributes file.
3. Add rules, one per line, for how Git should treat files.

Example: Force Unix Line Endings for All Text Files

*.txt text eol=lf

Handle Line Endings

Standardize line endings to avoid merge conflicts and broken files across different OSes.

Example: Set LF for Shell Scripts

*.sh text eol=lf

Mark Files as Binary

Tell Git which files are binary (not text).

This prevents Git from trying to merge or change line endings for these files.

Example: Mark PNG Files as Binary

*.png binary

Enable LFS for File Types

Use Git LFS for large files like images or datasets.

This tells Git to use LFS for these files:

Example: Track PSD Files with LFS

*.psd filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

Custom Diff Settings

Tell Git to use a special tool to compare certain file types (like Markdown or Jupyter notebooks):

Example: Custom Diff for Markdown

*.md diff=markdown

Check Attributes

See what attributes are set for a file:

Example: Check Attributes of a File

git check-attr --all README.md

Advanced Usage

• Merge Strategies: Set custom merge drivers for tricky files (like lock files or notebooks).
• Export-ignore: Exclude files from tar/zip archives created by git archive:

Example: Ignore Files on Export

docs/* export-ignore

Tips & Best Practices

• Patterns work like .gitignore (wildcards, etc).
• Put .gitattributes in subfolders for rules that only apply there.
• Changing .gitattributes won't retroactively fix files already committed-re-add files to update them.
• Use git check-attr to debug attribute issues.

Note: .gitattributes is versioned with your project, so everyone on your team gets the same settings.