# RegEx in File Inclusion/Exclusion Values?

**URL:** <https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841>\
**Category:** Data Classification Discussions & Questions\
**Tags:** configuration, inclusion-exclusion\
**Created:** [May 28, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841 "2025-05-28T15:33:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mscirri](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/mscirri/32/1148_2.png) [@mscirri](https://community.netwrix.com/u/mscirri)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/1 "2025-05-28T15:33:33Z")

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I am assuming the answer is no based on the documentation but I wanted to check anyway. Is there a way to use a RegEx expression for File Include/File Exclude values?

We have vendor files that contain sensitive data where the file extension is a date stamp, so in order to get those files discovered and classified, I have to Include all files and keep adding to the Exclude list. As you can imagine that exclude list is getting long but if I could use a RegEx expression for the Include list I could stop including everything.

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**Author:** ![dimav](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/dimav/32/249_2.png) [@dimav](https://community.netwrix.com/u/dimav)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/2 "2025-06-03T17:07:15Z")

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Hi Marc, correct, only wildcards are supported there. Are you trying to get those vendor files classified but not other files? Or why do you have to “keep adding to the Exclude list”? I’m trying to think of a workaround for this.

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**Author:** ![mscirri](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/mscirri/32/1148_2.png) [@mscirri](https://community.netwrix.com/u/mscirri)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/3 "2025-06-03T17:46:16Z")

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I need to get those vendor files classified, and since adding an Include value for each new date stamp is not feasible, I just added \* to the Include list. So then I had to go back and add a bunch of items to the Exclude list. Then as things pop up that do not need to be collected, I have to then add them to the exclude list and have the system remove those files.

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**Author:** ![mscirri](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/mscirri/32/1148_2.png) [@mscirri](https://community.netwrix.com/u/mscirri)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/4 "2025-06-04T13:53:14Z")

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To go further, if RegEx was available, I would have just added ._.\d{8}$ (or something similar) to the Include list as opposed to adding "_".

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**Author:** ![dimav](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/dimav/32/249_2.png) [@dimav](https://community.netwrix.com/u/dimav)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/5 "2025-06-13T16:49:20Z")

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Ok, I understand now, I’m afraid this scenario is currently not supported.

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**Author:** ![system](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/netwrix/user_avatar/community.netwrix.com/system/32/3102_2.png) [@system](https://community.netwrix.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://community.netwrix.com/t/regex-in-file-inclusion-exclusion-values/15841/6 "2025-08-12T16:50:04Z")

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