diff --git a/packages/Skipper/Enum/AsteriskMatch.php b/packages/Skipper/Enum/AsteriskMatch.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 1155bce1409..00000000000
--- a/packages/Skipper/Enum/AsteriskMatch.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-
-declare(strict_types=1);
-
-namespace Rector\Skipper\Enum;
-
-final class AsteriskMatch
-{
-    /**
-     * @var string
-     * @see https://regex101.com/r/aVUDjM/2
-     */
-    public const ONLY_STARTS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX = '#^\*(.*?)[^*]$#';
-
-    /**
-     * @var string
-     * @see https://regex101.com/r/ZB2dFV/2
-     */
-    public const ONLY_ENDS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX = '#^[^*](.*?)\*$#';
-}
diff --git a/packages/Skipper/FileSystem/FnMatchPathNormalizer.php b/packages/Skipper/FileSystem/FnMatchPathNormalizer.php
index 5c83aeb5917..cbe69566653 100644
--- a/packages/Skipper/FileSystem/FnMatchPathNormalizer.php
+++ b/packages/Skipper/FileSystem/FnMatchPathNormalizer.php
@@ -14,14 +14,8 @@ final class FnMatchPathNormalizer
 {
     public function normalizeForFnmatch(string $path): string
     {
-        // ends with *
-        if (Strings::match($path, AsteriskMatch::ONLY_ENDS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX) !== null) {
-            return '*' . $path;
-        }
-
-        // starts with *
-        if (Strings::match($path, AsteriskMatch::ONLY_STARTS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX) !== null) {
-            return $path . '*';
+        if (str_ends_with($path, '*') || str_starts_with($path, '*')) {
+            return '*' . trim($path, '*') . '*';
         }
 
         if (\str_contains($path, '..')) {
diff --git a/src/FileSystem/FilesFinder.php b/src/FileSystem/FilesFinder.php
index 880edb7e183..65bfabe3df2 100644
--- a/src/FileSystem/FilesFinder.php
+++ b/src/FileSystem/FilesFinder.php
@@ -113,12 +113,17 @@ private function addFilterWithExcludedPaths(Finder $finder): void
                 // make the path work accross different OSes
                 $excludePath = str_replace('\\', '/', $excludePath);
 
-                if (StringUtils::isMatch($realPath, '#' . preg_quote($excludePath, '#') . '#')) {
+                if (fnmatch($this->normalizeForFnmatch($excludePath), $realPath)) {
                     return false;
                 }
 
-                $excludePath = $this->normalizeForFnmatch($excludePath);
-                if (fnmatch($excludePath, $realPath)) {
+                if (str_contains($excludePath, '**')) {
+                    // prevent matching a fnmatch pattern as a regex
+                    // which is a waste of resources
+                    continue;
+                }
+
+                if (StringUtils::isMatch($realPath, '#' . preg_quote($excludePath, '#') . '#')) {
                     return false;
                 }
             }
@@ -133,14 +138,8 @@ private function addFilterWithExcludedPaths(Finder $finder): void
      */
     private function normalizeForFnmatch(string $path): string
     {
-        // ends with *
-        if (StringUtils::isMatch($path, AsteriskMatch::ONLY_ENDS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX)) {
-            return '*' . $path;
-        }
-
-        // starts with *
-        if (StringUtils::isMatch($path, AsteriskMatch::ONLY_STARTS_WITH_ASTERISK_REGEX)) {
-            return $path . '*';
+        if (str_ends_with($path, '*') || str_starts_with($path, '*')) {
+            return '*' . trim($path, '*') . '*';
         }
 
         return $path;