Add gitattributes override feature to finding-files-on-github (#29151)

Co-authored-by: Vanessa <vgrl@github.com>
Co-authored-by: David Staheli <1767415+davidstaheli@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: 3 people

content/search-github/searching-on-github/finding-files-on-github.md

@@ -17,18 +17,52 @@ topics:
 
 **Tips:**
 
-- File finder results exclude some directories like `build`, `log`, `tmp`, and `vendor`. To search for files within these directories, use the [`filename` code search qualifier](/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-code#search-by-filename).
+- By default, file finder results exclude some directories like `build`, `log`, `tmp`, and `vendor`. To search for files in these directories, use the [`filename` code search qualifier](/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-code#search-by-filename).{% ifversion file-finder-exclusion-controls %} Alternatively, you can customize which directories are excluded by default [using a `.gitattributes` file](#customizing-excluded-files).{% endif %}
 - You can also open the file finder by pressing `t` on your keyboard. For more information, see "[Keyboard shortcuts](/articles/keyboard-shortcuts)."
 
 {% endtip %}
 
+## Using the file finder
+
 {% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %}
 2. Above the list of files, click **Go to file**.
 ![Find file button](/assets/images/help/search/find-file-button.png)
 3. In the search field, type the name of the file you'd like to find.
 ![Find file search field](/assets/images/help/search/find-file-search-field.png)
 4. In the list of results, click the file you wanted to find.
 
+{% ifversion file-finder-exclusion-controls %}
+
+## Customizing excluded files
+
+By default, file finder results do not include files in the following directories if they exist at your repository root:
+
+ - `.git`
+ - `.hg`
+ - `.sass-cache`
+ - `.svn`
+ - `build`
+ - `dot_git`
+ - `log`
+ - `tmp`
+ - `vendor`
+
+You can override these default exclusions using a `.gitattributes` file.
+
+To do this, create or update a file called `.gitattributes` in your repository root, setting the [`linguist-generated`](https://github.com/github/linguist/blob/master/docs/overrides.md) attribute to `false` for each directory that should be included in file finder results.
+
+For example, the following `.gitattributes` file would cause files in the `build/` directory to be available to the file finder:
+
+```
+build/** linguist-generated=false
+```
+
+Note that this override requires the use of the recursive glob pattern (`**`). For more information, see "[pattern format](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore#_pattern_format)" in the Git documentation. More complex overrides of subdirectories within excluded-by-default directories are not supported.
+
+{% endif %}
+
 ## Further reading
 
-- "[About searching on GitHub](/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/about-searching-on-github)"
+- "[About searching on GitHub](/search-github/getting-started-with-searching-on-github/about-searching-on-github)"{% ifversion file-finder-exclusion-controls %}
+- "[Customizing how changed files appear on GitHub](/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files/customizing-how-changed-files-appear-on-github)"
+- [`.gitattributes`](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitattributes) in the Git documentation{% endif %}

data/features/file-finder-exclusion-controls.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Reference: Issue #7579 - Improved file finder exclusion controls
+
+versions:
+  fpt: '*'
+  ghec: '*'
+  ghes: '>=3.7'
+  ghae: 'issue-7579'