.gitattributes linguist settings incorrectly formatted?

[quoid]

One of my projects shows up as mostly html which I reckon is due to large generated html files.

Here's a link to my .gitattibutes file.

I am curious about a few things in particular:

• does my .gitattributes file look properly formatted? (it seems like certain html files are not being ignored)
• what is the proper way to handle spaces in file paths?
  • this thread suggests using [[:space:]] or \
  • this issue suggests using ? or *
• is a - needed when flagging individual files?
  • all individual files in the override doc have a - before the attribute
• is there a way to ignore all files of a certain type that are contained in a directory and that directory's sub directories? something like folder/subfolder/**/*.js?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide

[lildude]

• does my .gitattributes file look properly formatted? (it seems like certain html files are not being ignored)

It does now 😁. I see you've worked out that the - at the beginning negates the option. Your earlier versions of the file were wrong if you were intending on having the HTML files ignored.

what is the proper way to handle spaces in file paths?

* [this thread](https://github.com/github/linguist/discussions/5491) suggests using `[[:space:]]` or `\`

* [this issue](https://github.com/github/linguist/issues/5117) suggests using `?` or `*`

Both essentially work as [[:space:]] matches the specific space "character" whilst * and ? match any character, including spaces.

• is a - needed when flagging individual files?

No. As you've worked out, this is about negation, not specific files.

• is there a way to ignore all files of a certain type that are contained in a directory and that directory's sub directories? something like folder/subfolder/**/*.js?

Yes. Exactly like this.

The gitattributes docs have a lot more info on how to use the gitattributes file.

[quoid]

I did get it working, @lildude but it's still great info you shared. Thanks!