Git configuration variables can be stored at three different levels. Each level overrides values at the previous level.
---
title: Understanding Git Configuration Levels
subtitle: Quick Reference
date: October 28, 2017
author: Stack Overflow
source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/46986031
---
Git configuration variables can be stored at three different levels. Each level
overrides values at the previous level.
1. **System level** (applied to every user on the system and all their repositories)
- to view, `git config --list --system (may need sudo)`
- to set, `git config --system color.ui true`
- to edit system config file, `git config --edit --system`
2. **Global level** (values specific personally to you, the user).
- to view, `git config --list --global`
- to set, `git config --global user.name xyz`
- to edit global config file, `git config --edit --global`
3. **Repository level** (specific to that single repository)
- to view, `git config --list --local`
- to set, `git config --local core.ignorecase true` (`--local` optional)
- to edit repository config file, `git config --edit --local` (`--local` optional)
**How do I view all settings?**
Run `git config --list`, showing **system**, **global**, and (if inside a repository) **local** configs
Run `git config --list --show-origin`, also shows the origin file of each config item
**How do I read one particular configuration?**
- Run `git config user.name` to get `user.name`, for example.
- You may also specify options `--system`, `--global`, `--local` to read that value at a particular level.
---
- Reference: [1.6 Getting Started - First-Time Git Setup](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-First-Time-Git-Setup)
- Related: [GitHub Help: Ignoring files](https://help.github.com/en/github/using-git/ignoring-files)