Include/Exclude Pattern Logic (beyond the root level) issues

Support
#1

I am having some trouble with the include/exclude pattern logic. In your guide it states “For each file or directory, the list of supplied patterns are checked one by one in the given order. If a match is found, the corresponding include or exclude action is taken, skipping all remaining patterns. Therefore, the order in which patterns are added is significant”.

I have a filters file as follows:
-ADFS/
-Backup Exec AOFO Store/
-cc25311d66d34d2e1e1c656479/
-Config.Msi/
-dc28d1e1e5c1cb0104fc98ef11/
+Dell/Drivers/
+Dell/Drivers/*
-Dell/*
-Documents and Settings/
-f215939d6c317523880f28/
-Inetpub/
-OpenManage/
-Program Files/
-RECYCLER/
-SAV Manual Def Updates/
-System Volume Information/
-Temp/
-Vt-50/
-WINDOWS/
-wmpub/
+TM1_ASCII/
+TM1_ASCII/*
-*

Originally the two lines (+Dell/Drivers/ and +Dell/Drivers/*) were not included in the filters file. My backup was excluding all files other than the 4 test files in the TM1_ASCII/ directory; all good.

Once I added the two (Dell) lines, I expected to get all files and folders under the Dell/Drivers/ directory, and excluding all other files at/or below the Dell/ level (as these would be evaluated before the -Dell/* parameter) , however none of these files are being included in the backup; only the original 4 files.

What am I doing wrong?

#2

You just need to add +Dell/:

+Dell/
+Dell/Drivers/ 
+Dell/Drivers/* 
-Dell/*

In fact, you don’t need to exclude unwanted directories one by one. These should do it:

+Dell/
+Dell/Drivers/ 
+Dell/Drivers/* 
-Dell/*
+TM1_ASCII/ 
+TM1_ASCII/* 
-*
-*/
#3

I ran into the same issue today. To me it was not obvious that you have to explicitly add the 1st level directory if you want to include only the 2nd level directory. I think this is contrary to most Unix tools.

Please consider adding such an example to the documentation.

#4

I’ll update the documentation.

#5

I submitted https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy/issues/176 to request that the behavior be changed to make this not be a problem in the future.