This would also need to change ListContainsExcludeFile I think.

I'm not sure of the changes there. I suppose obj, ok := entry.(fs.Object) fails because dir is not considered an object ?

require directories in --exclude-if-present to have trailing /

Makes a lot of sense. Added this.

These could do with tests and docs also, and the help for --exclude-if-present would need adjusting.

I'm happy to make those changes after we agree on an implementation :)

I think ListContainsExcludeFile needs to look something like this (untested)

// ListContainsExcludeFile checks if exclude file is present in the list.
func (f *Filter) ListContainsExcludeFile(entries fs.DirEntries) bool {
	if len(f.Opt.ExcludeFile) == 0 {
		return false
	}
	for _, entry := range entries {
		basename := path.Base(entry.Remote())
		switch entry.(type) {
		case fs.Object:
			if slices.Contains(f.Opt.ExcludeFile, basename) {
				return true
			}
		case fs.Directory:
			if slices.Contains(f.Opt.ExcludeFile, basename+"/") {
				return true
			}
		}
	}
	return false
}

The options

1. --exclude-if-present name should exclude the containing directory if name is a file or directory
2. --exclude-if-present name should exclude the containing directory if name is a file only and we use --exclude-if-present name/ to exclude a directory

What I normally do here is look for prior art to see what other programs do. Here is a selection of programs with an --exclude-if-present flag or similar. I didn't actually try these, I looked at the docs so they may not be 100%

There isn't a strong consensus for whether files and directories should be treated differently or not.

Given the fact that currently if --exclude-if-present finds a directory with that name it errors the program, I think we are free to make our own choice.

If we choose option 2) if you want files and directories you can always add --exclude-if-present name --exclude-if-present name/ which makes it more flexible.

@albertony @nielash do you have an opinion?

@albertony @nielash do you have an opinion?

I lean slightly towards option 2, for a few reasons.

• It is more consistent with the "How filter rules are applied to directories" section of the docs
• It is more flexible (to your point about including the flag twice)
• Treating files and dirs as interchangeable could lead to unexpected results (suppose I want it to apply to dirs but not to files with the same name)

I hear the point about rclone copy accepting either a dir or file as arguments, but that's slightly different from filtering rules, which do care about the trailing slash. (I also have always found the copy behavior a bit odd, as the docs specifically instruct: "To copy single files, use the copyto command instead.")

Also, it may or may not be worth revisiting #4523 at the same time.

I lean slightly towards option 2, for a few reasons.

I agree - with everything you said there!