How to exclude directory and don't create it on server?

Thank you for your really useful work and for the V4!

Bug description I used exclude: scss/** to ignore a folder and the folder is created empty on the server. Reading the scss/** expression this behavior is right. Then how to ignore a folder and don’t create it remotely? I tried exclude: scss/ and this value is ignored (the folder is created and filled).

Thank you.

My Action Config

on: push
name: Publish Website
jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    name: 🚀 Deploy
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: ⚙ Build application
        [...]
      - name: 📂 Sync files
        uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@4.0.0
        with:
          server: ${{ secrets.FTP_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.FTP_LOGIN }}
          password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}
          server-dir: www/
          exclude: .git*
            - '**/.git*'
            - .git*/**
            - '**/.git*/**'
            - node_modules/**
            - scss/**
            - package.json
            - package-lock.json
          log-level: verbose

My Action Log

Logs

> Run SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@4.0.0
with:
server: ***
username: ***
password: ***
server-dir: www/
exclude: .git* - '**/.git*' - .git*/** - '**/.git*/**' - node_modules/** - scss/** - package.json - package-lock.json
log-level: verbose
----------------------------------------------------------------
🚀 Thanks for using ftp-deploy. Let's deploy some stuff!   
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you found this project helpful, please support it
by giving it a ⭐ on Github --> https://github.com/SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action
or add a badge 🏷️ to your projects readme --> https://github.com/SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action#badge
Creating local state at ./.ftp-deploy-sync-state.json
Local state created
Connected to xx.xx.xx.xx:21 (No encryption)
220 This is a private system - No anonymous login

Login security: No encryption
> USER ***
< 331 User *** OK. Password required

> PASS ###
< 230 OK. Current restricted directory is /

> TYPE I
< 200 TYPE is now 8-bit binary

> STRU F
< 200 F OK

> OPTS UTF8 ON
< 200 OK, UTF-8 enabled

> OPTS MLST type;size;modify;unique;unix.mode;unix.owner;unix.group;unix.ownername;unix.groupname;
< 200  MLST OPTS type;size;sizd;modify;UNIX.mode;UNIX.uid;UNIX.gid;unique;

changing dir to www/
> MKD www
< 550 Can't create directory: File exists

> CWD www
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www

dir changed
Trying to find optimal transfer strategy...
> EPSV
< 229 Extended Passive mode OK (|||10157|)

Optimal transfer strategy found.
> RETR .ftp-deploy-sync-state.json
< 550 Can't open .ftp-deploy-sync-state.json: No such file or directory

----------------------------------------------------------------
No file exists on the server "www/.ftp-deploy-sync-state.json" - this much be your first publish! 🎉
The first publish will take a while... but once the initial sync is done only differences are published!
If you get this message and its NOT your first publish, something is wrong.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Local Files:	4
Server Files:	4
----------------------------------------------------------------
Calculating differences between client & server
----------------------------------------------------------------
📁 Create: css
➕ Upload: css/styles.css
📁 Create: node_modules
📁 Create: scss
----------------------------------------------------------------
Making changes to 4 files to sync server state
Uploading: 16 B -- Deleting: 0 B -- Replacing: 0 B
----------------------------------------------------------------
creating folder "css/"
changing dir to css
> MKD css
< 257 "css" : The directory was successfully created

> CWD css
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www/css

dir changed
> CDUP
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www

completed
creating folder "node_modules/"
changing dir to node_modules
> MKD node_modules
< 257 "node_modules" : The directory was successfully created

> CWD node_modules
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www/node_modules

dir changed
> CDUP
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www

completed
creating folder "scss/"
changing dir to scss
> MKD scss
< 257 "scss" : The directory was successfully created

> CWD scss
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www/scss

dir changed
> CDUP
< 250 OK. Current directory is /www

completed
uploading "css/styles.css"
> EPSV
< 229 Extended Passive mode OK (|||18786|)

> STOR css/styles.css
< 150 Accepted data connection

Uploading to 51.68.11.208:18786 (No encryption)
upload progress for "css/styles.css". Progress: 0 bytes of 0 bytes
upload progress for "css/styles.css". Progress: 16 bytes of 16 bytes
< 226-File successfully transferred
226 0.093 seconds (measured here), 171.29 bytes per second

file uploaded
----------------------------------------------------------------
🎉 Sync complete. Saving current server state to "www/.ftp-deploy-sync-state.json"
> EPSV
< 229 Extended Passive mode OK (|||27875|)

> STOR .ftp-deploy-sync-state.json
< 150 Accepted data connection

Uploading to 51.68.11.208:27875 (No encryption)
upload progress for ".ftp-deploy-sync-state.json". Progress: 0 bytes of 16 bytes
upload progress for ".ftp-deploy-sync-state.json". Progress: 804 bytes of 820 bytes
< 226-File successfully transferred
226 0.091 seconds (measured here), 8.59 Kbytes per second

----------------------------------------------------------------
Time spent hashing:               306 milliseconds
Time spent connecting to server:  1.1 seconds
Time spent deploying:             1.5 seconds (10.3 B/second)
- changing dirs:                742 milliseconds
- logging:                      164 milliseconds
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total time:                       3.6 seconds
----------------------------------------------------------------

[JackNUMBER]

You have to exlude both the folder and the files so add both scss and scss/** like this. Same for node_modules:

exclude: '[.git*, .git*/**, **/.git*/**, node_modules, node_modules/**, package.json, package-lock.json, scss, scss/**]'

Yes! Works fine. Thank you.

Anyway @JackNUMBER, package-lock.json is intended to be versioned so you don’t have to exclude it.

It is versioned 😊 I don’t need it on the server 😃

[adripo]

Anyway @JackNUMBER, package-lock.json is intended to be versioned so you don’t have to exclude it.