SHELL

how to use gitignore to ignore a folder

You can ignore entire directories, just by including their paths and putting a / on the end:

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node_modules/
logs/

Default .gitignore file

# -----------------------------------------------------------------
# .gitignore for WordPress @salcode
# ver 20180808
#
# From the root of your project run
# curl -O https://gist.githubusercontent.com/salcode/b515f520d3f8207ecd04/raw/.gitignore
# to download this file
#
# By default all files are ignored.  You'll need to whitelist
# any mu-plugins, plugins, or themes you want to include in the repo.
#
# To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked, use 
# git update-index --assume-unchanged
#
# To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use 
# git rm --cached
#
# Change Log:
# 20180808 unignore site.webmanifest
# 20180714 unignore .phpcs.xml.dist
# 20160309 Added favicon files as whitelisted files
# 20150302 Added composer.json as a whitelisted file
# 20150227 Created as fork of https://gist.github.com/salcode/9940509,
#   this version ignores all files by default
# -----------------------------------------------------------------

# ignore everything in the root except the "wp-content" directory.
/*
!wp-content/

# ignore everything in the "wp-content" directory, except:
# mu-plugins, plugins, and themes directories
wp-content/*
!wp-content/mu-plugins/
!wp-content/plugins/
!wp-content/themes/

# ignore all mu-plugins, plugins, and themes
# unless explicitly whitelisted at the end of this file
wp-content/mu-plugins/*
wp-content/plugins/*
wp-content/themes/*

# ignore all files starting with . or ~
.*
~*

# ignore node dependency directories (used by grunt)
node_modules/

# ignore OS generated files
ehthumbs.db
Thumbs.db

# ignore Editor files
*.sublime-project
*.sublime-workspace
*.komodoproject

# ignore log files and databases
*.log
*.sql
*.sqlite

# ignore compiled files
*.com
*.class
*.dll
*.exe
*.o
*.so

# ignore packaged files
*.7z
*.dmg
*.gz
*.iso
*.jar
*.rar
*.tar
*.zip

# -------------------------
# BEGIN Whitelisted Files
# -------------------------

# track these files, if they exist
!.gitignore
!.editorconfig
!.phpcs.xml.dist
!README.md
!CHANGELOG.md
!composer.json

# track favicon files, if they exist
!android-chrome-*.png
!apple-touch-icon*.png
!browserconfig.xml
!favicon*.png
!favicon*.ico
!manifest.json
!mstile-*.png
!safari-pinned-tab.svg
!site.webmanifest

# track these mu-plugins, plugins, and themes
# add your own entries here
!wp-content/mu-plugins/example-mu-plugin/
!wp-content/plugins/example-plugin/
!wp-content/themes/example-theme/

where should gitignore file be

Put .gitignore in the working directory. It doesn't work if you put it in the .git (repository) directory
$ ls -1d .git*
.git
.gitignore

.gitignore file

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,intellij,java
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=macos,intellij,java

### Intellij ###
# Covers JetBrains IDEs: IntelliJ, RubyMine, PhpStorm, AppCode, PyCharm, CLion, Android Studio, WebStorm and Rider
# Reference: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/206544839

# User-specific stuff
.idea/**/workspace.xml
.idea/**/tasks.xml
.idea/**/usage.statistics.xml
.idea/**/dictionaries
.idea/**/shelf

# AWS User-specific
.idea/**/aws.xml

# Generated files
.idea/**/contentModel.xml

# Sensitive or high-churn files
.idea/**/dataSources/
.idea/**/dataSources.ids
.idea/**/dataSources.local.xml
.idea/**/sqlDataSources.xml
.idea/**/dynamic.xml
.idea/**/uiDesigner.xml
.idea/**/dbnavigator.xml

# Gradle
.idea/**/gradle.xml
.idea/**/libraries

# Gradle and Maven with auto-import
# When using Gradle or Maven with auto-import, you should exclude module files,
# since they will be recreated, and may cause churn.  Uncomment if using
# auto-import.
# .idea/artifacts
# .idea/compiler.xml
# .idea/jarRepositories.xml
# .idea/modules.xml
# .idea/*.iml
# .idea/modules
# *.iml
# *.ipr

# CMake
cmake-build-*/

# Mongo Explorer plugin
.idea/**/mongoSettings.xml

# File-based project format
*.iws

# IntelliJ
out/

# mpeltonen/sbt-idea plugin
.idea_modules/

# JIRA plugin
atlassian-ide-plugin.xml

# Cursive Clojure plugin
.idea/replstate.xml

# SonarLint plugin
.idea/sonarlint/

# Crashlytics plugin (for Android Studio and IntelliJ)
com_crashlytics_export_strings.xml
crashlytics.properties
crashlytics-build.properties
fabric.properties

# Editor-based Rest Client
.idea/httpRequests

# Android studio 3.1+ serialized cache file
.idea/caches/build_file_checksums.ser

### Intellij Patch ###
# Comment Reason: https://github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io/issues/186#issuecomment-215987721

# *.iml
# modules.xml
# .idea/misc.xml
# *.ipr

# Sonarlint plugin
# https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7973-sonarlint
.idea/**/sonarlint/

# SonarQube Plugin
# https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7238-sonarqube-community-plugin
.idea/**/sonarIssues.xml

# Markdown Navigator plugin
# https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7896-markdown-navigator-enhanced
.idea/**/markdown-navigator.xml
.idea/**/markdown-navigator-enh.xml
.idea/**/markdown-navigator/

# Cache file creation bug
# See https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/JBR-2257
.idea/$CACHE_FILE$

# CodeStream plugin
# https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/12206-codestream
.idea/codestream.xml

### Java ###
# Compiled class file
*.class

# Log file
*.log

# BlueJ files
*.ctxt

# Mobile Tools for Java (J2ME)
.mtj.tmp/

# Package Files #
*.jar
*.war
*.nar
*.ear
*.zip
*.tar.gz
*.rar

# virtual machine crash logs, see http://www.java.com/en/download/help/error_hotspot.xml
hs_err_pid*
replay_pid*

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two 
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,intellij,java