How can I show .gitignored / .ignored files in visual studio code?

Question

My tree view hides all of the ignored files that are listed in .gitignore. I cannot find anything in settings.json to show ignored files in my project. How do I show files ignored because of .gitignore?

The default seems to have changed over the years, so I actually came here to see how to hide them, and found the answer below :) — mhvelplund
– mhvelplund, Commented Dec 19, 2023 at 7:02
opposite question is here. intentionally not closing as duplicate right now because it's not clear to me whether/how exclude and ignore settings can override one another. — starball
– starball ♦, Commented Mar 26, 2024 at 5:19

iconoclast · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-28 04:33:04Z

33

The defaults of VS Code puzzle me, but fortunately there is a way to override them. I spent hours searching for a way to expose these files in the Explorer view, and only found it through experimenting based on what I already had for the search:

"search.useIgnoreFiles": false,
"files.useIgnoreFiles": false,

Update: see comments below for updates

edited Feb 28 at 4:33

answered Nov 6, 2019 at 4:26

iconoclast

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3 Comments

eddygeek Over a year ago

files.useIgnoreFiles does not seem to exist (anymore?). all settings

Thijs Koerselman Over a year ago

You can use the files.exclude configuration to tell VSCode what to exclude from the file explorer. It does not use the gitignore file for determining what is visible in the explorer.

vine77 Over a year ago

This answer didn't work for me in 1.72 (09/2022), but zumalifeguard's answer did, allowing me to show folders/files in the explorer sidebar otherwise hidden by .gitignore by setting "explorer.excludeGitIgnore": false (aka uncheck "Explorer: Exclude Git Ignore").

zumalifeguard · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-04 02:18:21Z

14

For me, the only way I could get the Explorer to show ignored files is using this setting:

      "explorer.excludeGitIgnore": false

I have file .env ignored, but would like to see it in the Explorer. The above setting addressed it.

answered Oct 4, 2022 at 2:18

zumalifeguard

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Comments

Li Junjie · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-11 18:36:43Z

11

go to Preferences > Settings, uncheck the option search:Use Ignore Files, then it works

answered Jan 11, 2021 at 18:36

Li Junjie

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1 Comment

Christian Noel Over a year ago

this one works for me, above and accepted answer fails to address my issue

Llewey · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-21 21:37:27Z

7

This is not currently possible in VS Code but there is discussion in this github issue about making it possible.

I suggest that you give a thumbs up reaction to the issue (click on the thumbs up in the bottom left of the initial post) to voice your support and follow the issue so you can find out if something changes.

answered Mar 21, 2017 at 21:37

Llewey

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2 Comments

drussell Over a year ago

yes it is possible: go to Preferences > Settings, and edit the User Settings file to comment out excluded files in the "files.exclude" section - like node_modules etc.

iconoclast Over a year ago

THIS IS FALSE: See my answer below

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-16 18:39:05Z

4

First click on the Settings (geartooth) at the bottom of the left margin.

Then search for gitignore.

Un-check the "Explorer: Exclude Git Ignore" box

edited Jun 16, 2023 at 18:39

answered Jun 9, 2023 at 14:26

Steve

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2 Comments

ryanwebjackson Over a year ago

I think this is the opposite of what OP was looking for - the want the files included in the Explorer pane, not excluded.

Steve Over a year ago

Thanks for the correction. Poor wording on my part. The default is Checked, so I meant click to uncheck it. Hopefully the new wording is more clear.

drussell · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-17 18:38:21Z

2

this is possible - go to Preferences > Settings, and edit the User Settings file to comment out excluded files in the "files.exclude" section - like node_modules etc. Here are my settings for example:

"files.exclude": {
  "**/.git": true, // this is a default value
  "**/.DS_Store": true, // this is a default value
  // "**/node_modules": true,
  "**/jspm_packages": true,
  "**/coverage": true,
  "**/public": true,
  "**/.cache": true,
  "**/.bundles": true,
  "**/es": true,
  // "**/dist": true,
  // "**/lib": true,
  "**/umd": true
},

answered Aug 17, 2018 at 18:38

drussell

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1 Comment

Scott O-Town Over a year ago

Great solution! Maybe VSCode will create a menu item to make it easier, but commenting out is brilliant!

Shlomi Lachmish · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-27 07:02:19Z

1

On the root of your project update the following file: .vscode/settings.json

{
  "files.exclude": {
    "**/.gitignore": false,
    "**/.git": true,
    "**/.vscode": false
  }
}

answered Mar 27, 2022 at 7:02

Shlomi Lachmish

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Comments

ronbravo · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-04 18:21:21Z

0

One interesting work around I found is that in VsCode's file browser, if you right click and create the file or directory you need (ex: right click -> create file -> .gitignore), it will show up. Not the best solution especially if things are nested but gives a quick and dirty way to do it. Also added this answer to the Github issue.

answered Jan 4, 2019 at 18:21

ronbravo

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1 Comment

iconoclast Over a year ago

This is for displaying the file named .gitignore itself, but the OP is trying to display the files that are listed inside .gitignore

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