As developers, we all know how essential it is to have a well-structured and organized codebase. One critical element of this organization is including a .gitignore file, which helps keep our repositories clean by ignoring specified files and directories. Many developers create this file manually, but a hidden gem in the .NET Core CLI can do this for you. In this blog post, we will walk through how to use the .NET CLI to create a .gitignore file with ease.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, you should have the following:

1. .NET SDK installed on your machine. If you haven’t installed it yet, you can download it from the official .NET website: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download
2. Working knowledge of Git and version control concepts.

Step 1: Open the command prompt or terminal

Regardless of your operating system, the first step is to open your command prompt or terminal. This will allow you to run the necessary .NET CLI commands.

Step 2: Navigate to your project’s directory

Using the ‘cd’ command, navigate to the directory where your .NET project resides. If you haven’t created a .NET project yet, you can create one using the following command:

dotnet new console -n MyNewProject

This command will create a new .NET Console application in a folder called ‘MyNewProject’. Change to the new directory:

cd MyNewProject

Step 3: Create a .gitignore file using the .NET CLI

To create a .gitignore file, you can use the ‘dotnet new’ command followed by the ‘gitignore’ template. Run the following command in your project’s directory:

dotnet new gitignore

This command will generate a .gitignore file in your project’s root directory. The file will contain a list of common files and directories that should be ignored by Git. It is tailored specifically for .NET projects and includes items such as build outputs, logs, and user-specific files.

Step 4: Customize the .gitignore file (optional)

The default .gitignore file generated by the .NET CLI is suitable for most .NET projects. However, you might want to customize it to fit your specific project’s needs. To do so, open the .gitignore file in your favorite text editor and add, modify, or remove the necessary rules.

Step 5: Initialize a Git repository and commit your changes

Now that you have a .gitignore file, you can initialize a Git repository in your project’s directory:

git init

Add your project files to the staging area:

git add .

And finally, commit your changes:

git commit -m "Initial commit with .gitignore"

So, stop doing it manually with this timesaver.