rsync -avzW --delete --exclude-from=./doc/exclude-rules.txt ~/workspace ~/doc mis183:.             

 ### other than default port ###
     rsync -e "ssh -p 2022" -Cauvzb .vim 128.175.7.162:.
 ### transfer a directory ###
     rsync -t backup mis183:.

 ### copy/update a single file ###
     rsync -auvz t.txt mis183:backup 

 ### copy from a source list ###
 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are allowed to go higher than the source dir. For example, take this command:
     rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup
 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host. If it contains "bin/" (note the trailing slash), the immediate contents of the directory would also be sent (without needing to be explicitly mentioned in the file -- this began in version 2.6.4). In both cases, if the -r option was enabled, that dir's entire hierarchy would also be transferred (keep in mind that -r needs to be specified explicitly with --files-from, since it is not implied by -a). Also note that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not force the duplication of the source-spec path (/usr in this case).

 In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file (the host must match one end of the transfer). As a short-cut, you can specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the transfer". For example:

     rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy

 This would copy all the files specified in the /path/file-list file that was located on the remote "src" host. 

     I did some alterations as I wanted to backup more than just
     the home dir. The include file determines what is to be
     backed up now.

     The new rsync command (now uses in and excludes and "/" as src) :
     $RSYNC                             \
        -va --delete --delete-excluded              \
            --exclude-from="$EXCLUDES"              \
                --include-from="$INCLUDES"              \
                    / $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.0 ;

                    Exclude file (the stuff we dont want) : #rsync script exclude file
                    **/.pan/messages/cache/
                    **/.phoenix/default/*/Cache/
                    **/.thumbnails/
                    **/Desktop/Trash/

                    Include (what dirs to be included): #rsync script include file
                    /home/
                    /home/**
                    /var/
                    /var/www/
                    /var/www/**
                    /etc/
                    /etc/**
                    - *

                    Note the "- *" for excluding everything except the dirs mentioned
                    in the include file.
                    Also note the "/var/" entry. To backup /var/www/* , you need to
                    include /var/

 One example to add directory names without contents
     Subject: rsync exclude file - directory name without directory contents
     Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 22:28:37 GMT
     Newsgroups: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.admin

     When using rsync to maintain incremental backups significant space can be
     saved on the backup server by excluding directories that have non-critical
     or transient data such as /tmp, /proc, /mnt, /cdrom, object and backup
     files, and caches.  The problem is getting rsync to include the directory
     name but exclude its contents, a condition not clearly covered in rsync(1),
     EXCLUDE PATTERNS.

     I use a separate backup server and pull from LAN clients but any model
     should work.  To test, add '-n -vv' to your rsync command and grep for 
     exclude and include statements.  Feedback: rsync at nsr500 dot net.

     Remote client example:
         rsync -nvva --stats --delete --exclude-from=<file> -e ssh \
             <client>:/ /<rsync_dir>/<client>/ | egrep '^excl|^incl'

             The following rsync exclude file works on my RH 7.3 (2.4.23) and RH 6.2
             (2.2.25) based systems for rsync 2.5.4.  You may have to edit for other
             distributions, especially non-linux or non-standard file system layouts.

             --- rsync exclude file start ---

### transient directories - contents
### tmp ###
+ tmp/
- **/tmp/**
+ /tmpfs/
- /tmpfs/**
### transient ###
+ /proc/
- /proc/**
+ /mnt/
- /mnt/**
+ /cdrom/
- /cdrom/**
### cache ###
# mozilla
+ Cache/
- **/Cache/**
# ccache.samba.org
+ ccache/
- **/ccache/**
+ .ccache/
- **/.ccache/**
# others
+ cache/
- **/cache/**
+ xover-cache/
- **/xover-cache/**
### obj ###
# kernel build
- usr/src/**.o
# special library .o (may be RH specific?)
+ usr/*/lib/**.o
+ usr/lib/**.o
# all others
- *.o
### backup ###
- *~

--- rsync exclude file end ---