How to Exclude Directories or Files When Copying to a Remote Machine

You need to copy files to a remote server but skip certain directories like node_modules or .git. Two options:

• rsync - Has built-in exclude support (use this)
• scp - No native exclude, needs workarounds

Rsync is the clear winner here.

Excluding Files or Directories with Rsync

rsync provides powerful exclusion options through the --exclude flag:

Basic Exclusion Syntax

rsync -av --exclude 'pattern' source/ user@remote:/destination/

Common Use Cases

Exclude specific directories:

rsync -av --exclude 'node_modules' --exclude '.git' source/ user@remote:/destination/

Exclude by file patterns:

rsync -av --exclude '*.log' --exclude '*.tmp' source/ user@remote:/destination/

Exclude multiple items:

rsync -av --exclude={'*.log','tmp/','cache/'} source/ user@remote:/destination/

Using exclude files: Create a .rsync-exclude file with patterns:

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

Then use:

rsync -av --exclude-from='.rsync-exclude' source/ user@remote:/destination/

Advanced Patterns

Pattern	Matches	Example
*.txt	All text files	file.txt, readme.txt
temp*	Files starting with “temp”	temp1, temporary
**/cache/	Cache directories anywhere	app/cache/, src/cache/
*.{log,tmp}	Multiple extensions	error.log, data.tmp

Excluding Files with SCP

Excluding Files with SCP

SCP doesn’t have built-in exclusion options like rsync, but you can use bash extended globbing patterns.

Enable Extended Globbing

shopt -s extglob

Exclude Files with Patterns

# Copy everything except .txt files
scp !(*.txt) user@remote:/destination/

# Copy everything except specific directories
scp -r !(node_modules|.git) user@remote:/destination/

# Copy everything except log and temp files
scp !(*.log|*.tmp) user@remote:/destination/

Extended Globbing Patterns

Pattern	Description	Example
!(pattern)	Matches anything except pattern	!(*.txt) excludes text files
*(pattern)	Matches zero or more occurrences	*(backup) matches backup files
+(pattern)	Matches one or more occurrences	+(test*) matches test files
?(pattern)	Matches zero or one occurrence	?(config) matches config file
@(pattern)	Matches exactly one pattern	`@(*.js

Practical Examples

# Copy only source files (exclude build artifacts)
scp -r !(build|dist|node_modules) user@remote:/app/

# Copy configuration files only
scp @(*.conf|*.json|*.yaml) user@remote:/config/

Recommendation: Use rsync instead of scp for complex exclusion needs, as it’s more reliable and feature-rich.

Quick Comparison: rsync vs scp

Feature	rsync	scp
Built-in exclusion	✅ --exclude	❌ Requires bash globbing
Pattern flexibility	✅ Very flexible	⚠️ Limited
Resumable transfers	✅ Yes	❌ No
Incremental sync	✅ Yes	❌ No
Performance	✅ Faster for large transfers	⚠️ Slower

Bottom line: Use rsync for file exclusion tasks - it’s more powerful and easier to use.