Excluding files

Your skip list keeps files and folders out of every backup. In your settings, it's called exclude.

#The defaults

A new skip list holds .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, *.tmp, *.swp, node_modules and .cache. Remove any of them you want backed up.

#How patterns work

  • A name or pattern without a slash matches any file or folder with that name, anywhere. node_modules skips every node_modules folder and everything in it.
  • A pattern with a slash is a full path. It skips that path and everything under it. ~ means your home folder, as in ~/Downloads/Movies.

Patterns can use these wildcards:

Wildcard Matches
* Any number of characters, except /
? Any single character, except /
[abc] One of the characters listed. [a-z] is a range, and [^abc] is any character not listed
\ The next character exactly, so \* matches a real *

Patterns are case-sensitive, so *.MOV doesn't skip clip.mov.

The folders on your list are never skipped themselves, only things inside them.

#Examples

Pattern Skips
*.iso Every disk image
.git Every Git folder
Cache* Anything whose name starts with Cache
~/Library/Caches The cache folder in your macOS home folder
~/Videos/*.mov .mov files directly in ~/Videos, but not in its subfolders

#Changing the list

Run frost init and change the Skip step, or use frost config edit. You can also set the whole list in one command, which replaces what's there:

frost config set exclude .DS_Store node_modules '*.tmp' '~/Downloads'

Put quotes around patterns with * or ~ in them, so your shell doesn't expand them first.

To skip something for a single backup:

frost backup --exclude '*.iso'

Skipping something doesn't remove it from snapshots you already have.