syncthing/man/syncthing-stignore.5

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.TH "SYNCTHING-STIGNORE" "5" "Sep 06, 2025" "v2.0.0" "Syncthing"
.SH NAME
syncthing-stignore \- Prevent files from being synchronized to other nodes
.SH SYNOPSIS
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
\&.stignore
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
If some files should not be synchronized to (or from) other devices, a file called
\fB\&.stignore\fP can be created containing file patterns to ignore.  The \fB\&.stignore\fP
file must be placed in the root of the synced folder (files in other locations are
not applied).  The \fB\&.stignore\fP file itself will never be synced to other devices,
although it can \fB#include\fP files that \fIare\fP synchronized between devices.  All
patterns are relative to the synced folder root.  The contents of the \fB\&.stignore\fP
file must be UTF\-8 encoded.
.sp
\fBNOTE:\fP
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
Note that ignored files can block removal of an otherwise empty directory.
See below for the (?d) prefix to allow deletion of ignored files.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH PATTERNS
.sp
The \fB\&.stignore\fP file contains a list of file or path patterns. The
\fIfirst\fP pattern that matches will decide the fate of a given file.
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
Regular file names match themselves, i.e. the pattern \fBfoo\fP matches
the files \fBfoo\fP, \fBsubdir/foo\fP as well as any directory named
\fBfoo\fP\&. Spaces are treated as regular characters, except for leading
and trailing spaces, which are automatically trimmed.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBAsterisk\fP (\fB*\fP) matches zero or more characters in a filename, but does not
match the directory separator. \fBte*ne\fP matches \fBtelephone\fP,
\fBsubdir/telephone\fP but not \fBtele/phone\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBDouble asterisk\fP (\fB**\fP) matches as above, but also directory separators.
\fBte**ne\fP matches \fBtelephone\fP, \fBsubdir/telephone\fP and
\fBtele/sub/dir/phone\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBQuestion mark\fP (\fB?\fP) matches a single character that is not the directory
separator. \fBte??st\fP matches \fBtebest\fP but not \fBteb/st\fP or
\fBtest\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBSquare brackets\fP (\fB[]\fP) denote a character range: \fB[a\-z]\fP matches
any lower case character.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBCurly brackets\fP (\fB{}\fP) denote a set of comma separated alternatives:
\fB{banana,pineapple}\fP matches either \fBbanana\fP or \fBpineapple\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBBackslash\fP (\fB\e\fP) “escapes” a special character so that it loses its
special meaning. For example, \fB\e{banana\e}\fP matches \fB{banana}\fP exactly
and does not denote a set of alternatives as above.
.sp
\fBNOTE:\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.INDENT 3.5
On Windows, \fB\e\fP is the path separator, so use \fB|\fP to escape special
characters. For example, \fB|{banana|}\fP matches
\fB{banana}\fP\&.
.sp
To use \fB\e\fP to escape special characters (and use \fB/\fP as the path separator),
insert a \fB#escape=\e\fP at the top of the file. Here’s a short example:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.nf
\fB#escape=\e\fP
\fB/foo\fP
\fB/path/bar/\e{banana\e}\fP
\fB/path/baz\e[2\e]/ex\e[3\e].txt\fP
.fi
.sp
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
\fB#escape=\e\fP must be placed at the top of the file, before any patterns,
but leading comments, and blank lines are OK.
.sp
Any files included using \fB#include\fP (see below) will each need their
own \fB#escape=\e\fP\&.
.sp
Using \fB#escape=\e\fP allows the same file to be synced and used on any
operating system.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
A pattern beginning with \fB/\fP matches in the root of the synced folder only.
\fB/foo\fP matches \fBfoo\fP but not \fBsubdir/foo\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
A pattern beginning with \fB#include\fP results in loading patterns
from the named file. It is an error for a file to not exist or be
included more than once. Note that while this can be used to include
patterns from a file in a subdirectory, the patterns themselves are
still relative to the synced folder \fIroot\fP\&. Example:
\fB#include more\-patterns.txt\fP\&.
.sp
Any \fB#include\fP directives inside a file loaded by \fB#include\fP require paths
specified relative to the directory containing the loaded file, rather than the
synchronised root directory.
.IP \(bu 2
A pattern beginning with a \fB!\fP prefix negates the pattern: matching files
are \fIincluded\fP (that is, \fInot\fP ignored). This can be used to override
more general patterns that follow.
.sp
\fBNOTE:\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.INDENT 3.5
Negated patterns that can match items below the folder root will cause
Syncthing to traverse otherwise ignored directories. If the
\fI\%watcher\fP is enabled, those directories will also be
watched. Directories ignored before the first negated pattern can
however be safely skipped, since the first matching pattern wins. For
example:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
/foo
/bar
!baz
*
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The directories \fBfoo\fP and \fBbar\fP will be entirely ignored. However any
other directories present must be scanned entirely to find any items
named \fIbaz\fP, despite the fact that they will be ignored due to the
\fB*\fP\&. As a special case, top\-level rooted patterns (e.g. \fB!/foo\fP) do
not cause this behaviour:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
!/baz
*
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
In this case, only the directory \fBbaz\fP will be scanned, since
everything else is ignored by the \fB*\fP pattern.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
A pattern beginning with a \fB(?i)\fP prefix enables case\-insensitive pattern
matching. \fB(?i)test\fP matches \fBtest\fP, \fBTEST\fP and \fBtEsT\fP\&. The
\fB(?i)\fP prefix can be combined with other patterns, for example the
pattern \fB(?i)!picture*.png\fP indicates that \fBPicture1.PNG\fP should
be synchronized. On Mac OS and Windows, patterns are always case\-insensitive.
.IP \(bu 2
A pattern beginning with a \fB(?d)\fP prefix enables removal of these files if
they are preventing directory deletion. This prefix should be used by any OS
generated files which you are happy to be removed.
.sp
\fBNOTE:\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.INDENT 3.5
Prefixes can be specified in any order (e.g. \fB(?d)(?i)\fP), but cannot
be combined in a single pair of parentheses like (?di)\&.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
A line beginning with \fB//\fP is a comment and has no effect. The same double
slashes in any other place are interpreted literally, e.g. trying to do
\fBfile // comment\fP will make Syncthing look for a file called \fBfile // comment\fP\&.
.UNINDENT
.SH EXAMPLE
.sp
Given a directory layout starting at the synced folder’s root:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
\&.DS_Store
\&.stignore
foo
foofoo
bar/
    baz
    quux
    quuz
bar2/
    baz
    frobble
My Pictures/
    Img15.PNG
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
and an \fB\&.stignore\fP file with the contents:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
(?d).DS_Store
!frobble
!quuz
foo
*2
qu*
(?i)my pictures
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
all files and directories called “foo”, ending in a “2” or starting with
“qu” will be ignored. The end result becomes:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
\&.DS_Store     # ignored, will be deleted if gets in the way of parent directory removal
foo           # ignored, matches \(dqfoo\(dq
foofoo        # synced, does not match \(dqfoo\(dq but would match \(dqfoo*\(dq or \(dq*foo\(dq
bar/          # synced
    baz       # synced
    quux      # ignored, matches \(dqqu*\(dq
    quuz      # synced, matches \(dqqu*\(dq but is excluded by the preceding \(dq!quuz\(dq
bar2/         # synced, despite matching \(dq*2\(dq due to child frobble
    baz       # ignored, due to parent being ignored
    frobble   # synced, due to \(dq!frobble\(dq
My Pictures/  # ignored, matched case insensitive \(dq(?i)my pictures\(dq pattern
    Img15.PNG # ignored, due to parent being ignored
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
\fBNOTE:\fP
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
Please note that directory patterns ending with a slash
\fBsome/directory/\fP matches the content of the directory, but not the
directory itself. If you want the pattern to match the directory and its
content, make sure it does not have a \fB/\fP at the end of the pattern.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Added in version 1.19.0: Default patterns can be configured which will take effect when automatically
accepting a folder from a remote device.  The GUI suggests the same patterns
when adding a folder manually.  In either case, the \fB\&.stignore\fP file is
created with these defaults if none is present yet.

.sp
Added in version 2.0.0: Windows users can now use the pipe character (\fB|\fP) to escape
metacharacters in the \fB\&.stignore\fP file.  Additionally, adding
\fB#escape=X\fP to the top of the file, allows users to define \fBX\fP
as the escape character for that particular file.

.SH AUTHOR
The Syncthing Authors
.SH COPYRIGHT
2014-2025, The Syncthing Authors
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