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(tar.info)controlling pattern-patching with exclude

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Controlling Pattern-Matching with the `exclude' Options
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   Normally, a pattern matches a name if an initial subsequence of the
name's components matches the pattern, where `*', `?', and `[...]' are
the usual shell wildcards, `\' escapes wildcards, and wildcards can
match `/'.

   Other than optionally stripping leading `/' from names (Note:
absolute), patterns and names are used as-is.  For example, trailing
`/' is not trimmed from a user-specified name before deciding whether
to exclude it.

   However, this matching procedure can be altered by the options listed
below.  These options accumulate.  For example:

     --ignore-case --exclude='makefile' --no-ignore-case ---exclude='readme'

   ignores case when excluding `makefile', but not when excluding
`readme'.

`--anchored'
`--no-anchored'
     If anchored (the default), a pattern must match an initial
     subsequence of the name's components.  Otherwise, the pattern can
     match any subsequence.

`--ignore-case'
`--no-ignore-case'
     When ignoring case, upper-case patterns match lower-case names and
     vice versa.  When not ignoring case (the default), matching is
     case-sensitive.

`--wildcards'
`--no-wildcards'
     When using wildcards (the default), `*', `?', and `[...]' are the
     usual shell wildcards, and `\' escapes wildcards.  Otherwise, none
     of these characters are special, and patterns must match names
     literally.

`--wildcards-match-slash'
`--no-wildcards-match-slash'
     When wildcards match slash (the default), a wildcard like `*' in
     the pattern can match a `/' in the name.  Otherwise, `/' is
     matched only by `/'.

   The `--recursion' and `--no-recursion' options (Note: recurse)
also affect how exclude patterns are interpreted.  If recursion is in
effect, a pattern excludes a name if it matches any of the name's
parent directories.