diff --git a/docs/advanced-features/middleware.md b/docs/advanced-features/middleware.md
index 8f65f84a22f11..3a53fa2232355 100644
--- a/docs/advanced-features/middleware.md
+++ b/docs/advanced-features/middleware.md
@@ -90,6 +90,19 @@ export const config = {
 
 > **Note:** The `matcher` values need to be constants so they can be statically analyzed at build-time. Dynamic values such as variables will be ignored.
 
+Configured matchers:
+
+1. MUST start with `/`
+1. can include named parameters: `/about/:path` matches `/about/a` and `/about/b` but not `/about/a/c`
+1. can have modifiers on named parameters (starting with `:`): `/about/:path*` matches `/about/a/b/c` because `*` is _zero or more_. `?` is _zero or one_ and `+` _one or more_
+1. can use regular expression enclosed in parenthesis: `/about/(.*)` is the same as `/about/:path*`
+
+Read more details on [path-to-regexp](https://github.com/pillarjs/path-to-regexp#path-to-regexp-1) documentation.
+
+> **Note:** For backward compatibility, Next.js always considers `/public` as `/public/index`. Therefore, a matcher of `/public/:path` will match.
+
+> **Note:** It is not possible to exclude middleware from matching static path starting with `_next/`. This allow enforcing security with middleware.
+
 ### Conditional Statements
 
 ```typescript
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/.gitignore b/examples/middleware-matcher/.gitignore
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..c87c9b392c020
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# See https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files/ for more about ignoring files.
+
+# dependencies
+/node_modules
+/.pnp
+.pnp.js
+
+# testing
+/coverage
+
+# next.js
+/.next/
+/out/
+
+# production
+/build
+
+# misc
+.DS_Store
+*.pem
+
+# debug
+npm-debug.log*
+yarn-debug.log*
+yarn-error.log*
+.pnpm-debug.log*
+
+# local env files
+.env*.local
+
+# vercel
+.vercel
+
+# typescript
+*.tsbuildinfo
+next-env.d.ts
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/README.md b/examples/middleware-matcher/README.md
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..6eed41451fef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Middleware
+
+This example shows how to configure your [Next.js Middleware](https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/middleware) to only match specific pages.
+
+The index page ([`pages/index.js`](pages/index.js)) has a list of links to dynamic pages, which will tell whether they were matched or not.
+
+The Middleware file ([`middleware.js`](middleware.js)) has a special `matcher` configuration key, allowing you to fine-grained control [matched pages](https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/middleware#matcher).
+
+Please keep in mind that:
+
+1. Middleware always runs first
+1. Middleware always matches `_next` routes on server side
+1. matcher must always starts with a '/'
+
+## Deploy your own
+
+Deploy the example using [Vercel](https://vercel.com?utm_source=github&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=next-example):
+
+[![Deploy with Vercel](https://vercel.com/button)](https://vercel.com/new/git/external?repository-url=https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/middleware-matcher&project-name=middleware-matcher&repository-name=middleware-matcher)
+
+## How to use
+
+Execute [`create-next-app`](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/packages/create-next-app) with [npm](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/init), [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/lang/en/docs/cli/create/), or [pnpm](https://pnpm.io) to bootstrap the example:
+
+```bash
+npx create-next-app --example middleware-matcher middleware-matcher-app
+```
+
+```bash
+yarn create next-app --example middleware-matcher middleware-matcher-app
+```
+
+```bash
+pnpm create next-app --example middleware-matcher middleware-matcher-app
+```
+
+Deploy it to the cloud with [Vercel](https://vercel.com/new?utm_source=github&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=next-example) ([Documentation](https://nextjs.org/docs/deployment)).
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/middleware.js b/examples/middleware-matcher/middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..2d555ddfa7739
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
+
+export default function middleware(req) {
+  const { pathname } = new URL(req.url)
+  const response = NextResponse.next()
+  response.headers.set(
+    'set-cookie',
+    `middleware-slug=${pathname.slice(1)}; Path=${pathname}`
+  )
+  return response
+}
+
+export const config = {
+  matcher: ['/public/disclaimer', '/((?!public|static).*)'],
+}
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/package.json b/examples/middleware-matcher/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0607e92b35c2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "private": true,
+  "scripts": {
+    "dev": "next dev",
+    "build": "next build",
+    "start": "next start"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "next": "latest",
+    "react": "latest",
+    "react-dom": "latest"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/[...slug].jsx b/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/[...slug].jsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..20b053f7f066a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/[...slug].jsx
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import { useRouter } from 'next/router'
+
+function hasMiddlewareMatched(slug) {
+  const values =
+    (typeof document !== 'undefined' ? document.cookie : '')
+      .split(';')
+      .map((pair) => pair.split('='))
+      .filter(([key]) => key === 'middleware-slug')
+      .map(([, value]) => value.trim()) ?? []
+  return values.some((value) => value === slug?.join('/'))
+}
+
+export const ContentPage = (props) => {
+  const {
+    query: { slug }, // slug is an array of path segments
+  } = useRouter()
+  return (
+    <>
+      <h1>
+        {hasMiddlewareMatched(slug)
+          ? 'Middleware matched!'
+          : 'Middleware ignored me'}
+      </h1>
+      <a href="/">{'<-'} back</a>
+    </>
+  )
+}
+
+export default ContentPage
diff --git a/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/index.jsx b/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/index.jsx
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..e99713f6d504e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middleware-matcher/pages/index.jsx
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+const Home = () => {
+  const matching = ['/about', '/about/topic/cats', '/public/disclaimer']
+  const notMatching = ['/public', '/public/disclaimer/nested', '/static']
+  return (
+    <div>
+      <h1>Middleware matching</h1>
+      <p>The current middleware configuration is:</p>
+      <pre>
+        export const config = {'{'}
+        <br />
+        {'  '}matcher: [ <br />
+        {'    '}'/public/disclaimer', // match a single, specific page
+        <br />
+        {'    '}'/((?!public|static).*) // match all pages not starting with
+        'public' or 'static' <br />
+        {'   '}] <br />
+        {'}'}
+      </pre>
+      <ul>
+        {[...notMatching, ...matching].map((href) => (
+          <li key={href}>
+            <a href={href}>{href}</a>
+          </li>
+        ))}
+      </ul>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export default Home