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Commit empty folders in Git with .gitkeep

Aug 20, 2022 · 1 min read · Post a comment

By default, Git completely ignores directories because it’s an intentional design choice. Since empty dirs don’t include any files or content, therefore they’re ignored. And sometimes, we might need to add an empty directory in a repo for some reason. There is a quick hack though which involves using a popular non-conventional (not being part of the Git standard) file named .gitkeep.

Prerequisites

  • Git

Solution

Step 1. Create an empty directory and add the .gitkeep file.

mkdir _temp && touch _temp/.gitkeep

Step 2. Commit the file and push it to remote. For instance:

git add _temp/.gitkeep
git commit -m "add empty _temp folder"
git push origin main

Conclusion

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