Modernize generated .gitignore to cover environment-specific dotenv files

[Arynsingh]

Description

The .gitignore generated by express-generator --git currently ignores .env, but does not ignore environment-specific dotenv files such as .env.local, .env.development, or .env.production.

For example, the current template contains:

# dotenv environment variables file
.env

I propose updating this to:

# dotenv environment variable files
.env
.env.*
!.env.example

This would help protect environment-specific configuration files that may contain credentials or other sensitive values, while still allowing projects to commit a safe .env.example file.

Why?

Node.js applications commonly use multiple dotenv files for different environments, for example:

• .env
• .env.local
• .env.development
• .env.production
• .env.test

Ignoring only .env does not cover these additional .env.* files.

The proposed pattern follows a commonly used approach in modern Node.js project templates.

Proposed change

Update the JavaScript .gitignore template in:

templates/js/gitignore

from:

# dotenv environment variables file
.env

to:

# dotenv environment variable files
.env
.env.*
!.env.example

I would also be happy to add or update the relevant tests if this change is accepted.

Would this be a change the maintainers would be open to?