VSCODEIGNORE File – What is .vscodeignore file and how to open it?

Definition

A .VSCODEIGNORE file is a configuration file used by Visual Studio Code (VSCode), a popular code editing and development environment. It is similar in purpose to a .gitignore file, which is used in version control to specify files and folders that should be excluded from version tracking. The .VSCODEIGNORE file serves a similar function for VSCode, allowing users to exclude specific files and folders from various operations and features within the editor.

Functionality

The .VSCODEIGNORE file can be placed in any directory of a VSCode project. When VSCode scans the project’s files, it checks for .VSCODEIGNORE files and applies the specified ignore rules. These rules can be used to prevent certain files or folders from being displayed in the file explorer, excluded from search results, or ignored by specific extensions and features. For example, the file might exclude temporary files, build artifacts, or large binary files that are not relevant for development.

Opening VSCODEIGNORE Files

VSCODEIGNORE files are plain text files that follow a simple syntax to define patterns that VSCode should ignore when performing certain operations. To open a VSCODEIGNORE file, you can use any text editor or code editor, such as:

• VSCode itself
• Notepad++
• Sublime Text
• Atom

To open a VSCODEIGNORE file in VSCode, simply navigate to the file in the File Explorer and double-click on it. VSCode will automatically open the file in the editor. You can also open the file from within VSCode by going to File > Open… and selecting the file.

Once the file is open, you can view and edit the ignore patterns as needed. The syntax for ignore patterns is simple: each pattern is a line of text that starts with a forward slash (/). Patterns can use wildcard characters (* and ?) to match multiple files or directories. For example, the following pattern ignores all files ending in .log:


/*.log


You can also use more complex patterns to ignore files based on their location or other criteria. For more information on the VSCODEIGNORE file syntax, see the VSCode documentation.

Once you have made changes to the VSCODEIGNORE file, save the file and close the editor. The changes will be applied the next time VSCode performs an operation that is affected by the ignore file. For example, if you have added a pattern to ignore all .log files, VSCode will no longer show .log files in the File Explorer or in the search results.

.VSCODEIGNORE File

The .VSCODEIGNORE file is a configuration file used in the Visual Studio Code editor to specify files and folders that should be ignored by the editor. This can be useful for excluding certain files or folders from searches, code navigation, and other editor features. The .VSCODEIGNORE file is similar to the .gitignore file, which is used to ignore files in version control systems such as Git.

Syntax

The .VSCODEIGNORE file follows a simple syntax. Each line in the file specifies a pattern to match. Files and folders that match any of the specified patterns will be ignored by Visual Studio Code. Patterns can use wildcards (* and ?) to match any number of characters or a single character, respectively. Patterns can also specify directories using forward slashes (/) or backslashes ().

Here is an example of a .VSCODEIGNORE file:

“`

Ignore all .DS_Store files

**/.DS_Store

Ignore all files ending in .tmp

*/.tmp

Ignore the node_modules directory

node_modules/
“`

Other Extensions