Syntax Rules for Exclude Lists

The following syntax rules apply to exclude lists:

• Only one pattern per line is allowed.
• The following special or wildcard characters are recognized:

   [ ] 
   ?
   *
   { }
• To use special or wildcard characters literally (that is, as nonwildcard characters), precede them with a backslash (\). For example, assume the brackets in the following are to be used literally

C:\abc\fun[ny]name

In the exclude list, precede them with a backslash as in

C:\abc\fun\[ny\]name

---

  Note    A backslash (\) acts as an escape character only when it precedes a special or wildcard character as in the above example. This means that NetBackup normally interprets a backslash literally and it is a legal character to use in pathnames.

---

• Spaces are considered legal characters. Do not include extra spaces unless they are part of the file name.

For example, if you want to exclude a file named

C:\testfile (with no extra space character at the end)

and your exclude list entry is

C:\testfile (with an extra space character at the end)

NetBackup cannot find the file until you delete the extra space from the end of the file name.

• End a file path with \ to exclude only directories with that path name (for example, C:\users\test\). If the pattern does not end in \ (for example, C:\users\test), NetBackup excludes both files and directories with that path name.
• To exclude all files with a given name, regardless of their directory path, just enter the name. For example:

test 

rather than

C:\test

This is equivalent to prefixing the file pattern with


   \
   \*\
   \*\*\
   \*\*\*\

and so on.

The following syntax rules apply only to UNIX clients:

• Do not use patterns with links in the names. For example, assume /home is a link to /usr/home and /home/doc is in the exclude list. The file is still backed up in this case because the actual directory path, /usr/home/doc, does not match the exclude list entry, /home/doc.
• Blank lines or lines beginning with a pound sign (#) are ignored.

Windows Client Example Exclude List

Assume that an exclude list contains the following entries:

Given the example exclude list, the following files or directories would be excluded from automatic backups:

• The file or directory named C:\users\doe\john.
• The directory C:\users\doe\abc\ (because the exclude entry ends with \).
• All files or directories named test that are two levels below users on drive C.
• All files or directories named temp that are two levels below the root directory on drive C.
• All files or directories named core at any level and on any drive.