diff --git a/docs/content/usage.md b/docs/content/usage.md
index 3fdd67319..341877fbd 100644
--- a/docs/content/usage.md
+++ b/docs/content/usage.md
@@ -43,6 +43,21 @@ Example:
 gomplate --input-dir=templates --output-dir=config --datasource config=config.yaml
 ```
 
+### `--exclude`
+
+To prevent certain files from being processed, you can use `--exclude`. It takes a glob, and any files matching that glob will not be included.
+
+Example:
+
+```
+gomplate --exclude example/** \
+          --exclude *.png
+```
+
+This will stop all files in the example folder from being processed, as well as all .png files in the root folder.
+
+You can also chain the exclude flag to build up a series of globs to be excluded
+
 ## `--datasource`/`-d`
 
 Add a data source in `name=URL` form. Specify multiple times to add multiple sources. The data can then be used by the [`datasource`](../functions/#datasource) and [`include`](../functions/#include) functions.
diff --git a/gomplate.go b/gomplate.go
index fcc5792f8..d1c6bb682 100644
--- a/gomplate.go
+++ b/gomplate.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"io"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"text/template"
 
 	"github.com/hairyhenderson/gomplate/data"
@@ -45,11 +46,16 @@ func runTemplate(o *GomplateOpts) error {
 
 	g := NewGomplate(d, o.lDelim, o.rDelim)
 
+	excludeList, err := executeCombinedGlob(o.excludeGlob)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	if o.inputDir != "" {
-		return processInputDir(o.inputDir, o.outputDir, g)
+		return processInputDir(o.inputDir, o.outputDir, excludeList, g)
 	}
 
-	return processInputFiles(o.input, o.inputFiles, o.outputFiles, g)
+	return processInputFiles(o.input, o.inputFiles, o.outputFiles, excludeList, g)
 }
 
 // Called from process.go ...
@@ -63,3 +69,19 @@ func renderTemplate(g *Gomplate, inString string, outPath string) error {
 	err = g.RunTemplate(inString, outFile)
 	return err
 }
+
+// takes an array of glob strings and executes it as a whole,
+// returning a merged list of globbed files
+func executeCombinedGlob(globArray []string) ([]string, error) {
+	var combinedExcludes []string
+	for _, glob := range globArray {
+		excludeList, err := filepath.Glob(glob)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		combinedExcludes = append(combinedExcludes, excludeList...)
+	}
+
+	return combinedExcludes, nil
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 12690f301..f5f340112 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ type GomplateOpts struct {
 	inputDir    string
 	outputFiles []string
 	outputDir   string
+	excludeGlob []string
 }
 
 var opts GomplateOpts
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ func initFlags(command *cobra.Command) {
 	command.Flags().StringArrayVarP(&opts.inputFiles, "file", "f", []string{"-"}, "Template `file` to process. Omit to use standard input, or use --in or --input-dir")
 	command.Flags().StringVarP(&opts.input, "in", "i", "", "Template `string` to process (alternative to --file and --input-dir)")
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&opts.inputDir, "input-dir", "", "`directory` which is examined recursively for templates (alternative to --file and --in)")
+	command.Flags().StringArrayVar(&opts.excludeGlob, "exclude", []string{}, "glob of files to not parse")
 	command.Flags().StringArrayVarP(&opts.outputFiles, "out", "o", []string{"-"}, "output `file` name. Omit to use standard output.")
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&opts.outputDir, "output-dir", ".", "`directory` to store the processed templates. Only used for --input-dir")
 
diff --git a/process.go b/process.go
index 85235a523..7df938195 100644
--- a/process.go
+++ b/process.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 // == Direct input processing ========================================
 
-func processInputFiles(stringTemplate string, input []string, output []string, g *Gomplate) error {
+func processInputFiles(stringTemplate string, input []string, output []string, excludeList []string, g *Gomplate) error {
 	input, err := readInputs(stringTemplate, input)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ func processInputFiles(stringTemplate string, input []string, output []string, g
 
 // == Recursive input dir processing ======================================
 
-func processInputDir(input string, output string, g *Gomplate) error {
+func processInputDir(input string, output string, excludeList []string, g *Gomplate) error {
 	input = filepath.Clean(input)
 	output = filepath.Clean(output)
 
@@ -55,8 +55,12 @@ func processInputDir(input string, output string, g *Gomplate) error {
 		nextInPath := filepath.Join(input, entry.Name())
 		nextOutPath := filepath.Join(output, entry.Name())
 
+		if inList(excludeList, nextInPath) {
+			continue
+		}
+
 		if entry.IsDir() {
-			err := processInputDir(nextInPath, nextOutPath, g)
+			err := processInputDir(nextInPath, nextOutPath, excludeList, g)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -73,6 +77,16 @@ func processInputDir(input string, output string, g *Gomplate) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func inList(list []string, entry string) bool {
+	for _, file := range list {
+		if file == entry {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 // == File handling ================================================
 
 func readInputs(input string, files []string) ([]string, error) {
diff --git a/process_test.go b/process_test.go
index b63ad6eb7..161518a43 100644
--- a/process_test.go
+++ b/process_test.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func TestInputDir(t *testing.T) {
 		Sources: map[string]*data.Source{"config": src},
 	}
 	gomplate := NewGomplate(d, "{{", "}}")
-	err = processInputDir(filepath.Join("test", "files", "input-dir", "in"), outDir, gomplate)
+	err = processInputDir(filepath.Join("test", "files", "input-dir", "in"), outDir, []string{"**/*.exclude.txt"}, gomplate)
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 
 	top, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(outDir, "top.txt"))
@@ -58,4 +58,8 @@ func TestInputDir(t *testing.T) {
 	inner, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(outDir, "inner/nested.txt"))
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, "zwei", string(inner))
+
+	// excluded file should not exist in out dir
+	_, err = ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(outDir, "inner/exclude.txt"))
+	assert.NotEmpty(t, err)
 }
diff --git a/test/files/input-dir/in/exclude.txt b/test/files/input-dir/in/exclude.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d9cfae16d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/files/input-dir/in/exclude.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Should not be included