diff --git a/script-config.conf b/script-config.conf
index b4825e0..ea2b314 100644
--- a/script-config.conf
+++ b/script-config.conf
@@ -104,24 +104,38 @@ CHECK_UPDATES=1
 DEL_THRESHOLD=500
 UP_THRESHOLD=500
 
-# This setting allows you to specify a pattern to exclude certain files when 
+# This setting allows you to specify a pattern to exclude certain files when
 # computing the counts of changed files using 'snapraid diff'.
-# The patterns are based on the following regular expression:
-# ^(?!.*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*$).*$ 
-# This regex will exclude any file that matches the IGNORE_PATTERN.
-# CAUTION: this is an advanced feature: pattern creation is not easy.
-# You can test your pattern using this example: https://regex101.com/r/Igs4kX/1 
-# Do not include the quotes used in the configuration as part of the pattern.
-# The amount of "matches" shown by this example are the strings NOT captured 
-# by this rule. 
-# 
+# These use standard Bash "pathname expansion" (globs).
+#
+# WARNING: Please use this setting only if you really know what you are doing,
+# it is meant for an advanced use.
+# Do not use this to ignore files changing often, such as log files.
+#          This will cause the parity information to be out of sync and make recoveries
+#          impossible if those files are needed.
+#          Use the snapraid ignore configuration option instead.
+#          More details: https://www.snapraid.it/manual#7.7
+#                        https://www.snapraid.it/manual#8
+#
+# Syntax:
+#   - the whole pattern must be enclosed in parentheses.
+#   - Multiple patterns are separated by spaces inside the parentheses.
+#   - Each pattern must be wrapped in double quotes.
+#
 # Examples:
-# IGNORE_PATTERN="Hello" -> All files containing "Hello" will be ignored.
-# IGNORE_PATTERN="Backup/kopia" -> All files containing "Backup/kopia" in their 
-# path will be ignored.
-# IGNORE_PATTERN="(Backup/kopia)|(Hello)" -> All files containing either 
-# "Backup/kopia" or "Hello" will be ignored.
-IGNORE_PATTERN=""
+#   IGNORE_PATTERN=("*.tmp" "/var/cache/*" "*/backup/*")
+#   *.tmp        → ignore all .tmp files
+#   /var/cache/* → ignore everything under /var/cache
+#   */backup/*   → ignore any "backup" directory, anywhere
+#
+# Glob cheatsheet:
+#   *        → matches anything (zero or more characters)
+#   ?        → matches exactly one character
+#   [abc]    → matches any of a, b, or c
+#   [!abc]   → matches any character except a, b, or c
+#
+# More details: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Pattern-Matching.html
+IGNORE_PATTERN=()
 
 # Allow a sync that would otherwise violate the delete threshold, but only
 # if the ratio of added to deleted files is greater than the value set.
diff --git a/snapraid-aio-script.sh b/snapraid-aio-script.sh
index f4d4c54..c5a086d 100644
--- a/snapraid-aio-script.sh
+++ b/snapraid-aio-script.sh
@@ -483,12 +483,11 @@ function sanity_check() {
 
 function get_counts() {
   EQ_COUNT=$(grep -wE '^ *[0-9]+ equal' "$TMP_OUTPUT" | sed 's/^ *//g' | cut -d ' ' -f1)
-  if [ $IGNORE_PATTERN ]; then
-    ADD_COUNT=$(grep -c -P "^add (?!.*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*$).*$" "$TMP_OUTPUT")
-    UPDATE_COUNT=$(grep -c -P "^update (?!.*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*$).*$" "$TMP_OUTPUT")
-    DEL_COUNT=$(grep -c -P "^remove (?!.*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*$).*$" "$TMP_OUTPUT")
-    MOVE_COUNT=$(grep -c -P "^move (?!.*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*$).*$" "$TMP_OUTPUT")
-    IGNORE_COUNT=$(grep -c -P ".*(?:$IGNORE_PATTERN).*" "$TMP_OUTPUT")
+  if [ ${#IGNORE_PATTERN[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+    ADD_COUNT=$(count_actions_with_ignore add)
+    UPDATE_COUNT=$(count_actions_with_ignore update)
+    DEL_COUNT=$(count_actions_with_ignore remove)
+    MOVE_COUNT=$(count_actions_with_ignore move)
   else
     ADD_COUNT=$(grep -c -P '^add .+$' "$TMP_OUTPUT")
     UPDATE_COUNT=$(grep -c -P '^update .+$' "$TMP_OUTPUT")
@@ -499,6 +498,25 @@ function get_counts() {
   # REST_COUNT=$(grep -wE '^ *[0-9]+ restored' $TMP_OUTPUT | sed 's/^ *//g' | cut -d ' ' -f1)
 }
 
+function count_actions_with_ignore() {
+  local action=$1
+  local count=0
+
+  while read -r act path; do
+      [[ $act == "$action" ]] || continue
+
+      # check ignore globs
+      for glob in "${IGNORE_PATTERN[@]}"; do
+          # shellcheck disable=SC2053 # glob matching is wanted here
+          [[ $path == $glob ]] && continue 2
+      done
+
+      ((count++))
+  done < "$TMP_OUTPUT"
+
+  echo "$count"
+}
+
 function sed_me(){
   # Close the open output stream first, then perform sed and open a new tee
   # process and redirect output. We close stream because of the calls to new