What is proper way to exclude files in rsync?

[Red Squirrel]

I always have trouble with this as it only seems to work when it wants, and none of the online resources I've found match up. They all do it differently.

More specifically, what is the syntax of the exclude file?

I've seen some use relative paths, some use full paths, some have special symbols, some just have a simple list of paths, so I'm really confused as to what is the proper way.

 

[Crusty]

There is a large section on this in the man page. Have you read it yet? It spells it out pretty clearly.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I checked that already but it's not really in details as to what the syntax should be and what the paths refer to (full path starting with / or relative to backup source?)

 

[Crusty]

It depends on the other options you choose. There's a way to toggle both behaviors.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm doing

rsync --exclude-from=/backupexclude -vru --delete-delay --force /source /dest

My exclude file looks like this:

+ */saves/*

So any folder called saves should be excluded, but it's just not working. I've found various variations online of how the syntax is suppose to be, so I just don't know which one is actually right.