diff --git a/doc/Manual.md b/doc/Manual.md
index 0aa6068c0..a16d74a00 100644
--- a/doc/Manual.md
+++ b/doc/Manual.md
@@ -167,6 +167,20 @@ You can even backup individual files in the same repository.
 In fact several hosts may use the same repository to backup directories and
 files leading to a greater de-duplication.
 
+You can exclude folders and files by specifying exclude-patterns.  
+Either specify them with multiple `--exclude`'s or one `--exclude-file`
+
+    $ cat exclude
+    # exclude go-files
+    *.go
+    # exclude foo/x/y/z/bar foo/x/bar foo/bar
+    foo/**/bar
+    $ restic -r /tmp/backup backup ~/work --exclude=*.c --exclude-file=exclude
+
+Patterns use [`filepath.Glob`](https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Glob) internally,
+see [`filepath.Match`](https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Match) for syntax.
+Additionally `**` exludes arbitrary subdirectories.
+
 # List all snapshots
 
 Now, you can list all the snapshots stored in the repository:
diff --git a/src/cmds/restic/cmd_backup.go b/src/cmds/restic/cmd_backup.go
index 3d241ef52..11275d00a 100644
--- a/src/cmds/restic/cmd_backup.go
+++ b/src/cmds/restic/cmd_backup.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
@@ -17,9 +18,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 type CmdBackup struct {
-	Parent   string   `short:"p" long:"parent"  description:"use this parent snapshot (default: last snapshot in repo that has the same target)"`
-	Force    bool     `short:"f" long:"force"   description:"Force re-reading the target. Overrides the \"parent\" flag"`
-	Excludes []string `short:"e" long:"exclude" description:"Exclude a pattern (can be specified multiple times)"`
+	Parent      string   `short:"p" long:"parent"  description:"use this parent snapshot (default: last snapshot in repo that has the same target)"`
+	Force       bool     `short:"f" long:"force"   description:"Force re-reading the target. Overrides the \"parent\" flag"`
+	Excludes    []string `short:"e" long:"exclude" description:"Exclude a pattern (can be specified multiple times)"`
+	ExcludeFile string   `long:"exclude-file" description:"Read exclude-patterns from file"`
 
 	global *GlobalOptions
 }
@@ -299,6 +301,23 @@ func (cmd CmdBackup) Execute(args []string) error {
 
 	cmd.global.Verbosef("scan %v\n", target)
 
+	// add patterns from file
+	if cmd.ExcludeFile != "" {
+		file, err := os.Open(cmd.ExcludeFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			cmd.global.Warnf("error reading exclude patterns: %v", err)
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
+		for scanner.Scan() {
+			line := scanner.Text()
+			if !strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
+				cmd.Excludes = append(cmd.Excludes, line)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	selectFilter := func(item string, fi os.FileInfo) bool {
 		matched, err := filter.List(cmd.Excludes, item)
 		if err != nil {