Here are some exclude/include examples:
--exclude "*.o" would exclude all filenames matching *.o
--exclude "/foo" would exclude a file in the base directory called foo
--exclude "foo/" would exclude any directory called foo.
--exclude "/foo/*/bar" would exclude any file called bar two levels below a base directory called foo.
--exclude "/foo/**/bar" would exclude any file called bar two or more levels below a base directory called foo.
--include "*/" --include "*.c" --exclude "*" would include all directories and C source files
--include "foo/" --include "foo/bar.c" --exclude "*" would include only foo/bar.c
(the foo/ directory must be explicitly included or it would be excluded by the "*")