git sparse-checkout ignore specific file type

Question

I have a git repository with a bunch of large csv in them, which I don't want to clone, so I came across git sparse-checkout and this post: https://github.blog/2020-01-17-bring-your-monorepo-down-to-size-with-sparse-checkout/

From this post I took following:

git clone --no-checkout https://github.com/john_doe/repo-with-big-csv.git
cd repo-with-big-csv
git sparse-checkout init --cone

Then I edit the .git/info/sparse-checkout and add the following (adapted from example in page above):

/*
!**/*.csv

But it doesn't seem to work properly. After git pull some folders are cloned, some are not. I also noticed a warning, when I do git sparse-checkout list I get:

warning: unrecognized pattern: '**/*.csv'
warning: disabling cone pattern matching
/*
!**/*.csv

What's the proper way to ignore a certain file type only?

Answer 1

See "Git sparse checkout with exclusion" and make sure to use Git 2.26.x, which has some fixes for the git sparse-checkout command.

When in cone mode, the git sparse-checkout set subcommand takes a list of directories instead of a list of sparse-checkout patterns

If core.sparseCheckoutCone=true, then Git will parse the sparse-checkout file expecting patterns of these types. Git will warn if the patterns do not match.

You need to only use restrict patterns based on folder prefix matches.

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The OP Frode Akselsen adds in the comments:

my example is actually working: the folders that don't show up just contain only .csv files, hence, after applying the rules in .git/info/sparse-checkout, nothing is in the folder anymore and therefore Git doesn't show the folder.

I confirm Git will only show content: if folder has no file (no "content"), said folder is not visible.