Specifies an array of filenames or patterns that should be skipped when resolving include.

Important: exclude only changes which files are included as a result of the include setting. A file specified by exclude can still become part of your codebase due to an import statement in your code, a types inclusion, a /// <reference directive, or being specified in the files list.

It is not a mechanism that prevents a file from being included in the codebase - it simply changes what the include setting finds.