Filter Patterns

Pattern Rules

Pattern	Matches	Example
*.log	Any .log file anywhere	--exclude='*.log'
/cache/	cache/ at source root only	--exclude='/cache/'
cache/	cache/ at any depth	--exclude='cache/'
*.jpg	All JPEG files	--include='*.jpg'
**/*.tmp	.tmp files in any subdir	--exclude='**/*.tmp'
dir/***	Dir and everything inside	--include='dir/***'

Common Commands

# Exclude single pattern
rsync -av --exclude='*.log' src/ dest/

# Multiple excludes
rsync -av --exclude='*.log' --exclude='cache/' --exclude='tmp/' src/ dest/

# Include ONLY specific files
rsync -av --include='*.conf' --include='*/' --exclude='*' src/ dest/

# Exclude file (one pattern per line)
rsync -av --exclude-from='exclude-list.txt' src/ dest/

# Filter rules file
rsync -av --filter='merge filter-rules.txt' src/ dest/

Common Exclude Templates

web-deploy-exclude.txt

.git/
node_modules/
.env
*.log
cache/
tmp/
.DS_Store

backup-exclude.txt

cache/
tmp/
*.log
*.pid
*.sock
sessions/

tip

Order matters. Rsync processes rules top to bottom. Put --include before --exclude when whitelisting specific files.