diff --git a/lib/thor/actions/directory.rb b/lib/thor/actions/directory.rb
index 1505461cb..7f8fd97c9 100644
--- a/lib/thor/actions/directory.rb
+++ b/lib/thor/actions/directory.rb
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ module Actions
     # config<Hash>:: give :verbose => false to not log the status.
     #                If :recursive => false, does not look for paths recursively.
     #                If :mode => :preserve, preserve the file mode from the source.
+    #                If :exclude_pattern => /regexp/, prevents copying files that match that regexp.
     #
     # ==== Examples
     #
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ def execute!
 
           files(lookup).sort.each do |file_source|
             next if File.directory?(file_source)
+            next if config[:exclude_pattern] && file_source.match(config[:exclude_pattern])
             file_destination = File.join(given_destination, file_source.gsub(source, '.'))
             file_destination.gsub!('/./', '/')
 
diff --git a/spec/actions/directory_spec.rb b/spec/actions/directory_spec.rb
index 46323b24e..b7e70f2c5 100644
--- a/spec/actions/directory_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/actions/directory_spec.rb
@@ -68,6 +68,19 @@ def exists_and_identical?(source_path, destination_path)
       expect(File.exists?(file)).to be_false
     end
 
+    it "ignores files within excluding/ directories when exclude_pattern is provided" do
+      invoke! "doc", "docs", :exclude_pattern => /excluding\//
+      file = File.join(destination_root, "docs", "excluding", "rdoc.rb")
+      expect(File.exists?(file)).to be_false
+    end
+
+    it "copies and evalutes files within excluding/ directory when no exclude_pattern is present" do
+      invoke! "doc", "docs"
+      file = File.join(destination_root, "docs", "excluding", "rdoc.rb")
+      expect(File.exists?(file)).to be_true
+      expect(File.read(file)).to eq("BAR = BAR\n")
+    end
+
     it "copies files from the source relative to the current path" do
       invoker.inside "doc" do
         invoke! "."
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/doc/excluding/%file_name%.rb.tt b/spec/fixtures/doc/excluding/%file_name%.rb.tt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6296c46ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/doc/excluding/%file_name%.rb.tt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+BAR = <%= "BAR" %>