
a name of the file in each directory <em>git ls-files</em>
examines, normally <code>.gitignore</code>.  Files in deeper
directories take precedence.  Patterns are ordered in the
same order they appear in the files.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>A pattern specified on the command line with --exclude or read
from the file specified with --exclude-from is relative to the
top of the directory tree.  A pattern read from a file specified
by --exclude-per-directory is relative to the directory