diff --git a/docs/usage.md b/docs/usage.md
index 476590017d..454e1d4ad1 100644
--- a/docs/usage.md
+++ b/docs/usage.md
@@ -302,6 +302,7 @@ tasks:
     cmds:
       - minify -o public/script.js src/js
     sources:
+      - "!src/js/node_modules/**" # don't include specify directory files
       - src/js/**/*.js
     generates:
       - public/script.js
@@ -320,6 +321,10 @@ Task will compare the modification date/time of the files to determine if it's
 necessary to run the task. If not, it will just print a message like
 `Task "js" is up to date`.
 
+You can also add `!` before the pattern so that it will ignore all that matched files.
+If you have only exclude pattern but no include pattern, all non-exclude files will 
+be included.
+
 If you prefer this check to be made by the content of the files, instead of
 its timestamp, just set the `method` property to `checksum`.
 You will probably want to ignore the `.task` folder in your `.gitignore` file
diff --git a/internal/status/checksum.go b/internal/status/checksum.go
index 68dcd69932..d408a6df81 100644
--- a/internal/status/checksum.go
+++ b/internal/status/checksum.go
@@ -32,16 +32,29 @@ func (c *Checksum) IsUpToDate() (bool, error) {
 	data, _ := ioutil.ReadFile(checksumFile)
 	oldMd5 := strings.TrimSpace(string(data))
 
-	sources, err := globs(c.Dir, c.Sources)
+	var h = md5.New()
+	matcher, err := NewMatcher(c.Dir, c.Sources)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
+	if err := matcher.Match(func(p string) error {
+		if _, err := io.WriteString(h, p); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
-	newMd5, err := c.checksum(sources...)
-	if err != nil {
-		return false, nil
+		f, err := os.Open(p)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		_, err = io.Copy(h, f)
+		f.Close()
+		return err
+	}); err != nil {
+		return false, err
 	}
 
+	newMd5 := fmt.Sprintf("%x", h.Sum(nil))
+
 	if !c.Dry {
 		_ = os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(c.Dir, ".task", "checksum"), 0755)
 		if err = ioutil.WriteFile(checksumFile, []byte(newMd5+"\n"), 0644); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/status/glob.go b/internal/status/glob.go
index a70f663de7..2b4e4110c4 100644
--- a/internal/status/glob.go
+++ b/internal/status/glob.go
@@ -4,12 +4,93 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v2/internal/execext"
 
 	"github.com/mattn/go-zglob"
 )
 
+// Matcher represents a matcher to sources
+type Matcher struct {
+	dir      string
+	includes []string
+	excludes []string
+}
+
+// NewMatcher creates a Matcher
+func NewMatcher(dir string, globs []string) (*Matcher, error) {
+	var sm = Matcher{
+		dir:      dir,
+		includes: make([]string, 0, len(globs)),
+		excludes: make([]string, 0, len(globs)/2+1),
+	}
+
+	for _, g := range globs {
+		isExclude := strings.HasPrefix(g, "!")
+		if isExclude {
+			g = g[1:]
+		}
+		g, err := execext.Expand(g)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		if isExclude {
+			sm.excludes = append(sm.excludes, g)
+		} else {
+			sm.includes = append(sm.includes, g)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return &sm, nil
+}
+
+// Match matches the files and invoke the call back function until there is an error.
+func (s Matcher) Match(callback func(p string) error) error {
+	return filepath.Walk(s.dir, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if info.IsDir() {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		rPath, err := filepath.Rel(s.dir, path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		for _, g := range s.excludes {
+			matched, err := zglob.Match(g, rPath)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			} else if matched {
+				return nil
+			}
+		}
+
+		// if there is no includes, then all non-excludes files will be add to checksum
+		if len(s.includes) == 0 {
+			if err := callback(path); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		} else {
+			for _, g := range s.includes {
+				matched, err := zglob.Match(g, rPath)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				} else if matched {
+					if err := callback(path); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+}
+
 func globs(dir string, globs []string) ([]string, error) {
 	files := make([]string, 0)
 	for _, g := range globs {
diff --git a/internal/status/timestamp.go b/internal/status/timestamp.go
index 3801c1acb3..d228bf1152 100644
--- a/internal/status/timestamp.go
+++ b/internal/status/timestamp.go
@@ -19,20 +19,32 @@ func (t *Timestamp) IsUpToDate() (bool, error) {
 		return false, nil
 	}
 
-	sources, err := globs(t.Dir, t.Sources)
+	var sourcesMaxTime time.Time
+
+	matcher, err := NewMatcher(t.Dir, t.Sources)
 	if err != nil {
-		return false, nil
+		return false, err
 	}
-	generates, err := globs(t.Dir, t.Generates)
-	if err != nil {
-		return false, nil
+	if err := matcher.Match(func(p string) error {
+		info, err := os.Stat(p)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		sourcesMaxTime = maxTime(sourcesMaxTime, info.ModTime())
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		return false, err
 	}
 
-	sourcesMaxTime, err := getMaxTime(sources...)
 	if err != nil || sourcesMaxTime.IsZero() {
 		return false, nil
 	}
 
+	generates, err := globs(t.Dir, t.Generates)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
 	generatesMinTime, err := getMinTime(generates...)
 	if err != nil || generatesMinTime.IsZero() {
 		return false, nil
diff --git a/status.go b/status.go
index 5421c1ca9e..4d771822b0 100644
--- a/status.go
+++ b/status.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package task
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v2/internal/execext"
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v2/internal/logger"
@@ -50,6 +51,15 @@ func (e *Executor) statusOnError(t *taskfile.Task) error {
 }
 
 func (e *Executor) getStatusChecker(t *taskfile.Task) (status.Checker, error) {
+	dir := t.Dir
+	if dir == "" {
+		var err error
+		dir, err = os.Getwd()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	t.Dir = dir
 	method := t.Method
 	if method == "" {
 		method = e.Taskfile.Method