diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a5c9c7e66..7cc289168 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -87,10 +87,3 @@ src/*/*/*/CMakeLists.txt
 src/api/dotnet/cmake_install_gac.cmake.in
 src/api/dotnet/cmake_uninstall_gac.cmake.in
 
-# reference code for z3str2
-Z3-str
-Z3-str/**
-# test cases
-tests
-tests/**
-