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n350071πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
n350071πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅

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[git] Keep empty directory by .gitkeep

#git

πŸ€” Situation

The repository is like this. The notes directory is empty. How can I keep the empty directory?

$ tree . β”œβ”€β”€ Gemfile β”œβ”€β”€ Gemfile.lock β”œβ”€β”€ README.md β”œβ”€β”€ deleted.enex β”œβ”€β”€ notes # <- The empty directory β”œβ”€β”€ parse.rb └── parse_to_notable.rb 1 directory, 6 files
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πŸ‘ Solution

put an empty file at the directory. .gitkeep is popularly used.

$ touch notes/.gitkeep $ ls -A notes/ .gitkeep
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like this

πŸ”— Parent Note

n350071

n350071 Git note

n350071πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ ・ Sep 25 '19

#git

Top comments (5)

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eldercb profile image
Claudio Bertoli •

Any file will work, because any file will make the folder not empty: I believe it's better practice to add a README.md file in the folder explaining the purpose of the folder.
Otherwise future developers might find a folder sometimes with not an intuitive name and wonder what it's for: it might even no longer be used, but with not explanation of its purpose a developer would need to dig into the code to understand that.

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pavelloz profile image
PaweΕ‚ Kowalski •

I think .keep works too ;)

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n350071 profile image
n350071πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ •

Thank you, it works too!

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jingxue profile image
Jing Xue •

It's probably worth noting that any file name would work. .gitkeep is just a popular choice for this placeholder file.

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n350071 profile image
n350071πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ •

Thank you, my understanding was wrong. I've rewritten it.