Ignoring files, folders, or parts of code

Exclude specific files, folders or parts of code from results of Semgrep scans in your repository or working directory. Semgrep does not generate findings for the ignored items.

This is separate from ignoring a finding, which is a triage operation after a Semgrep scan has found a match.

All Semgrep environments (CLI, CI, and App) adhere to user-defined or Semgrep-defined ignore patterns.

Reference summary

Method	Usage	Examples
To ignore blocks of code: nosemgrep	Create a comment, followed by a space ( ), followed by nosemgrep at the first line or preceding line of the pattern match.	// nosemgrep                   // nosemgrep: rule-id # nosemgrep
To ignore files and folders: .semgrepignore	Create a .semgrepignore file in your repository's root directory or your project's working directory and add patterns for files and folders there. Patterns follow .gitignore syntax with some caveats. See Defining files and folders in .semgrepignore.	.semgrepignore sample file

Understanding Semgrep defaults

Without user customization, Semgrep refers to the following to define ignored files and folders:

• Semgrep's default .semgrepignore file
• Your repository's .gitignore file (if it exists)

In the absence of a user-generated .semgrepignore, Semgrep refers to its repository's default template:

# Common large paths
node_modules/
build/
dist/
vendor/
.env/
.venv/
.tox/
*.min.js
.npm/

# Common test paths
test/
tests/
*_test.go

# Semgrep rules folder
.semgrep

# Semgrep-action log folder
.semgrep_logs/

caution

The default .semgrepignore file causes Semgrep to skip these folders:

• /tests, /test
• /vendors

To include the above folders, create a .semgrepignore file without those paths.

Files, folders, and code beyond Semgrep's scope

There are files that Semgrep ignores even without .semgrepignore:

• Large files (maximum file size defaults to 1MB)
• Binary files
• Unknown file extensions (file extensions not matched with any supported programming language)

Large files and unknown file extensions are included or excluded through command line flags (See CLI reference). Binary files are never scanned.

This document defines files, folders and code as those that are relevant to a Semgrep scan. For example, .jpg files are not a part of Semgrep's scope and therefore are not part of the scope of this document.

Customizing ignore behavior

Semgrep provides several methods to customize ignore behavior. Refer to the following table to see which method suits your goal:

Goal	Method
To scan all files within Semgrep's scope each time you run Semgrep (only files within .git are ignored).	Create an empty .semgrepignore file in your repository root directory or in your project's working directory. An empty .semgrepignore will make Semgrep scan paths in .gitignore.
To ignore files and folders in .gitignore.	Add :include .gitignore to your .semgrepignore file.
To ignore custom files and folders each time you run a scan.	Add these files to your .semgrepignore file or define them through Semgrep Cloud Platform.
To ignore specific code blocks each time you run a scan.	Create a comment with the word nosemgrep.
To ignore files or folders for a particular scan.	Run Semgrep with the flag --exclude followed by the pattern or file to be excluded. See CLI reference.
To include files or folders for a particular scan.	Run Semgrep with the flag --include followed by the pattern or file to be included. See CLI reference. When including a pattern from a .gitignore or .semgrepignore file, --include does not override either, still resulting in the file's exclusion.
To include files or folders defined within a .gitignore for a particular scan.	Run Semgrep with the flag --no-git-ignore, which overrides its definition within .semgrepignore as well.
To ignore files or folders for a particular rule.	Edit the rule to set the paths key with one or more patterns. See Rule syntax.

Defining ignored files and folders in .semgrepignore

.semgrepignore syntax mirrors .gitignore syntax, with the following modifications:

• "Include" patterns (lines starting with !) are unsupported.
• "Character range" patterns (lines including a collection of characters inside brackets) are unsupported.
• An :include ... directive is added, which allows another file to be included in the ignore pattern list; typically this included file would be the project .gitignore. No attempt at cycle detection is made.
• Any line that begins with a colon, but not :include, raises an error.
• \: is added to escape leading colons.

Unsupported patterns are silently removed from the pattern list (this is done so that .gitignore files may be included without raising errors). The removal is logged.

For a description of .gitignore syntax, see .gitignore documentation.

Defining ignored files and folders in Semgrep Cloud Platform

Another method for users to define ignore patterns is through a Project in Semgrep Cloud Platform. These patterns follow the same syntax as .semgrepignore in the preceding section.

To define files and folders in Semgrep Cloud Platform:

1. Sign in to Semgrep Cloud Platform.
2. From the Dashboard Sidebar, select Projects > [Project name].
3. Select the name of the project to modify, and then click the respective gear icon in the Settings column.
4. Enter files and folders to ignore in the Path Ignores box.

Including files and folders through this method is additive. When Semgrep Cloud Platform makes a scan, it looks for a .semgrepignore within the repository. If no .semgrepignore file is found, Semgrep temporarily creates one and adds items from Semgrep Cloud Platform's Path Ignores. Adding items to the Path Ignores box does not override default Semgrep ignore patterns.

You can also add files to .semgrepignore while triaging your findings by issuing the following steps:

1. On the Semgrep Cloud Platform Findings page, click the Status filter, and then select Open status to see all open findings.
2. Next to a finding you want to ignore, click the Ignore .
3. Optional: Select a reason of why you are ignoring a finding. Choose either: False positive, Acceptable risk, No time to fix
4. Click Save.
5. Optional: Select whether you want to ignore all findings in Just this file, This directory, or Parent directory. This step is accessible only with permission to modify policies or repository settings.
6. Optional: Enable the checkbox to: Remove this rule from Rule board. This removes the related rule that matched the finding.
7. Click Done.

note

Add files to .semgrepignore in the fifth step of the procedure described above.

Ignoring code through nosemgrep

To ignore blocks of code, define an inline comment, followed by a space ( ), followed by the word nosemgrep at either the first line or the line preceding the potential match. Semgrep ignores all rule pattern matches. This functionality works across all supported languages.

nosemgrep in Python:

bad_func1()  # nosemgrep

# nosemgrep
bad_func2()

nosemgrep in JavaScript:

// nosemgrep
bad_func1()

bad_func2(); // nosemgrep

bad_func3(   // nosemgrep
    arg
);

info

The space ( ) before nosemgrep is required for Semgrep to detect this annotation.

To ignore blocks of code for a particular rule, enter its rule-id as follows: nosemgrep: RULE_ID. To ignore multiple rules, use a comma-delimited list. rule-ids must be referenced with their namespace.

Python examples:

bad_func1()  # nosemgrep: rule-id-1

# nosemgrep: rule-id-1, rule-id-2
bad_func2() 

JavaScript examples wherein rules are stored in a configs subdirectory:

// nosemgrep: configs.rule-id-3
bad_func1()

bad_func2(); // nosemgrep: configs.rule-id-3

bad_func3(   // nosemgrep: configs.rule-id-3, configs.rule-id-4
    arg
);

info

Previous annotations for ignoring code inline, such as nosem, are deprecated.

Disabling rules on Semgrep Cloud Platform

Semgrep Cloud Platform users can disable rules and rulesets through the Rule Board. See Removing rules or rulesets.

Known issues

--no-git-ignore is overridden due to default ignore patterns (.semgrepignore) (#4537)

To fix this, create an empty .semgrepignore file. If the scan is a one-off event, delete the .semgrepignore file to restore default ignore patterns.

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