Add Exclude A Directory During A Command as a Git TIL

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
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-_1637 TILs and counting..._
+_1638 TILs and counting..._
 
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 - [Ruby Operator Lookup](https://www.visualmode.dev/ruby-operators)
@@ -333,6 +333,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Dropping Commits With Git Rebase](git/dropping-commits-with-git-rebase.md)
 - [Dry Runs in Git](git/dry-runs-in-git.md)
 - [Exclude A File From A Diff Output](git/exclude-a-file-from-a-diff-output.md)
+- [Exclude A Directory During A Command](git/exclude-a-directory-during-a-command.md)
 - [Excluding Files Locally](git/excluding-files-locally.md)
 - [Extend Git With Custom Commands](git/extend-git-with-custom-commands.md)
 - [Files With Local Changes Cannot Be Removed](git/files-with-local-changes-cannot-be-removed.md)

git/exclude-a-directory-during-a-command.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# Exclude A Directory During A Command
+
+Many of the git commands we use, such as `git add`, `git restore`, etc., target
+files and paths relative to the current directory. This is typically exactly
+what we want, to stage and unstage and so forth the files and directories in
+front of us.
+
+I recently ran into a situation where I needed to restore a small subset of
+changes. At the same time, I had a massive number of auto-generated files
+recording HTTP interactions (hundreds of files, modified on the working tree).
+I wanted to run a `git restore`, but wading through all those HTTP recording
+files was not feasible.
+
+I needed to exclude those files. They all belonged to a `spec/cassettes`
+directory. I could exclude them with a _pathspec_ magic signature pattern which
+is used to alter and limit the paths in a git command.
+
+A _pathspec_ magic signature is a special pattern made up of a `:` followed by
+some signature declaring what the pattern means.
+
+The `(exclude)`, `!`, and `^` magic signatures all mean the same thing —
+exclude. So, we can exclude a directory from a `git restore` command like so:
+
+```bash
+$ git restore --patch -- . ':!spec/cassettes'
+```
+
+We've employed two pathspec patterns here. The first, `.`, scopes everything to
+the current directory. The second, `':!spec/cassettes'` excludes everything in
+the `spec/cassettes` directory.
+
+See `man gitglossary` for more on _pathspecs_.