What is the difference between system, global and local scope?

System config applies to every user on the machine, global applies to your user account via ~/.gitconfig, and local applies to a single repository via .git/config. Local overrides global, which overrides system.

How do I see the value currently in effect?

Run git config to read the effective value, or git config --show-origin to see which file it came from. git config --list shows everything merged across scopes.

Why doesn't my .gitignore change take effect for committed files?

core.excludesfile and .gitignore only affect untracked files. Files already tracked must be removed from the index with git rm --cached before the ignore rule applies.

What does push.default simple mean?

It pushes the current branch to a remote branch of the same name, but only if they are already linked as upstream. It is the safe default that avoids accidentally pushing unrelated branches.

Is this reference exhaustive?

No. Git has hundreds of config keys; this lists the ones most teams actually set. For the full list run git help config or see the official git-config documentation.

Git Config Options Reference

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Look up any git setting fast

Git’s behaviour is driven almost entirely by git config keys spread across many sections — core, user, diff, merge, pull, push, remote and more. This reference lets you search those keys by name or description and filter by section, so you can find the right key and its expected value without leaving the page. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

How it works

Each entry lists the fully-qualified key (section.key), the value type or allowed tokens, the scope where the key is normally set, a short description and the default value where one exists. Git reads configuration from three files in order of increasing precedence: system (/etc/gitconfig), global (~/.gitconfig), and local (.git/config). When the same key appears in more than one file, the most specific scope wins. Set a key with:

git config --global push.default simple
git config --local core.autocrlf input

Use --show-origin to discover which file a value came from when something behaves unexpectedly.

Tips and examples

init.defaultBranch main changes the name of the first branch in new repos.
pull.rebase true makes git pull rebase instead of creating merge commits.
merge.conflictStyle zdiff3 shows the common ancestor in conflict markers, which makes resolving conflicts far easier.
Define shortcuts with the alias section: git config --global alias.co checkout lets you type git co.
A value containing spaces must be quoted on the command line, and a literal # in a value must be quoted because it otherwise starts a comment in the config file.