{"id":3231,"date":"2018-04-11T15:11:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T15:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com/blog\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2022-06-13T15:39:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T12:39:35","slug":"shortpixel-how-to-exclude-images-and-folders-from-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/shortpixel-how-to-exclude-images-and-folders-from-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"ShortPixel: How to exclude images and folders from optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Buried deep into our plugin advanced settings, lies a special feature: Exclude patterns<\/em>. As you can guess, it allows our users to specify which files or folders are omitted from the optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using this feature is not as intuitive as we wanted to be, that’s why we wrote this article. Read further to find a few examples of how to use this feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What can I exclude with this feature?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All files and folders that can be identified with the accepted patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By patterns, we mean some rules that our plugin understands. For example, the name:flower.jpg<\/code> pattern will let ShortPixel know that all JPEG images that end in “flower” should not be compressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pattern consists of a type:value<\/code> pair. Type can be: name<\/code>, path<\/code>, size<\/code>, regex-path<\/code> or regex-name<\/code>. Let’s see how you could use each of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a Media Library item, the pattern will be matched against the name of the main<\/strong> image – not of its thumbnails – and will exclude the image together with all its thumbnails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to exclude files<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use the name<\/code> <\/em>type pattern to exclude particular images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you wish to exclude “logo.jpg” <\/em>from optimization, then you will add this pattern in the Exclude patterns <\/em>field:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

name:logo.jpg<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A small change to the pattern will lead to a broader selection. The following will select for exclusion all images – PNG\/JPEG\/GIF – that include the “logo” word in their name: “nicelogo.jpg”, “alllogos.png”, “logo.gif” and so on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
name:logo<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, the feature Exclude patterns sounds complicated, but it is really not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember<\/strong>: For a name<\/code> pattern, only the filename will be matched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to exclude folders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Use the path<\/code> type pattern to exclude folders\/subfolders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the path will be matched (useful for excluding certain subdirectories altogether). For these, you can also use regular expressions accepted by preg_match<\/code>, but without “,” or “:”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to use the size pattern<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Use size<\/code> to exclude images bigger than a certain size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The format for the size<\/code> exclude is: minWidth-maxWidthxminHeight-maxHeight<\/code>. For example, size:1000-1100x2000-2200<\/code>. You can also specify a precise size, as 1000×2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the size<\/code> type, which applies only to Media Library images, the main images (not thumbnails) that have the size in the specified range will be excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The power of regular expressions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The regular expressions can help you set different exclude patterns. These are to be used with the types regex-name<\/code> and regex-path<\/code>. A regular expression must be contained between slashes (\/<\/code>) and special characters should be escaped by adding \\<\/code> in front of them. Here are just a couple of examples that will show their power:<\/p>\n\n\n\n