"when used with -r (which is implied by -a), every subcomponent of every path is visited from top down, so include/exclude patterns get applied recursively to each subcomponent." "...base of the tree." I guess I didn't make the connection from these phrases that the base of the tree is not the beginning of a path (/mnt/pc/machine/share/blah/blah/blah.txt), or that the "path" here is relative to the source path in the rsync command. Thanks for your help, Bart -- Bart Brashers MFG Inc. Air Quality Meteorologist 19203 36th Ave W Suite 101 bart.brashers@mfgenv.com Lynnwood WA 98036-5707 http://www.mfgenv.com 425.921.4000 Fax: 425.921.4040