Linux find command exclude multiple directories

Method 1 : use option “-prune” to exclude multiple directories

find PATH \( -path "/path/todir1" -o -path "/path/todir2" \) -prune -o  -name "*.txt" -print

Below is an simple test which exclude “dira” and “dirb”

j@ubuntu:~$ tree dir1
dir1
├── dira
│   └── a
├── dirb
│   └── b
└── dirc
    └── c
j@ubuntu:~$ find dir1 -type d \( -path "dir1/dira" -o -path "dir1/dirb" \) -prune -o -print
dir1
dir1/dirc
dir1/dirc/c
j@ubuntu:~$

Note: “-print” is required

 -prune True; if the file is a directory, do not descend into  it

Method 2 : use “!” (not) operator to not show multiple directories.

find PATH ! -path "/path/todir1/*" -! -path "/path/todir2/*" -name "*.txt" -print

Note: the “/*” is required , see below test

j@ubuntu:~$ tree dir1
dir1
├── dira
│   └── a
├── dirb
│   └── b
└── dirc
    └── c

3 directories, 3 files
j@ubuntu:~$ find dir1 -type f  ! -path "dir1/dira/*" ! -path "dir1/dirb/*" -print
dir1/dirc/c
j@ubuntu:~$

Conclusion:

Method 1 is better since it will not descend into the specified directories , for method 2 find still search those directories but just not print it out ,which means method 1 makes sense more, especially while searching huge number of files.

More find examples :Linux find command examples