To exclude files from formatting, create a `.prettierignore` file in the root of your project. `.prettierignore` uses [gitignore syntax](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore#_pattern_format).
Example:
```
# Ignore artifacts:
build
coverage
# Ignore all HTML files:
*.html
```
It’s recommended to have a `.prettierignore` in your project! This way you can run `prettier --write .` to make sure that everything is formatted (without mangling files you don’t want, or choking on generated files). And – your editor will know which files _not_ to format!
By default prettier ignores files in version control systems directories (".git", ".svn" and ".hg") and `node_modules` (if [`--with-node-modules` CLI option](cli.md#--with-node-modules) not specified)
So by default it will be
```js
**/.git
**/.svn
**/.hg
**/node_modules
```
and
```js
**/.git
**/.svn
**/.hg
```
if [`--with-node-modules` CLI option](cli.md#--with-node-modules) provided
This type of ignore is only allowed to be used in top-level and aimed to disable formatting for auto-generated content, e.g. [`all-contributors`](https://github.com/kentcdodds/all-contributors), [`markdown-toc`](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/markdown-toc), etc.
```markdown
<!-- prettier-ignore-start -->
<!-- SOMETHING AUTO-GENERATED BY TOOLS - START -->