diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 82fcdd5..e94e50f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ supplied to `go-bindata`. Refer to the `testdata/out` directory for various
 output examples from the assets in `testdata/in`. Each example uses different
 command line options.
 
+To ignore files, pass in regexes using -ignore, for example:
+
+    $ go-bindata -ignore=\\.gitignore data/...
 
 ### Accessing an asset
 
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index cbc82f0..d2aaae0 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 )
 
 // InputConfig defines options on a asset directory to be convert.
@@ -120,6 +121,13 @@ type Config struct {
 	// sub directories. This defaults to false, so only files in the
 	// input directory itself are read.
 	Recursive bool
+
+	// Ignores any filenames matching the regex pattern specified, e.g.
+	// path/to/file.ext will ignore only that file, or \\.gitignore
+	// will match any .gitignore file.
+	//
+	// This parameter can be provided multiple times.
+	Ignore []*regexp.Regexp
 }
 
 // NewConfig returns a default configuration struct.
@@ -131,6 +139,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 	c.Debug = false
 	c.Recursive = false
 	c.Output = "./bindata.go"
+	c.Ignore = make([]*regexp.Regexp, 0)
 	return c
 }
 
diff --git a/convert.go b/convert.go
index c9a67e8..0d4dd38 100644
--- a/convert.go
+++ b/convert.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func Translate(c *Config) error {
 
 	// Locate all the assets.
 	for _, input := range c.Input {
-		err = findFiles(input.Path, c.Prefix, input.Recursive, &toc)
+		err = findFiles(input.Path, c.Prefix, input.Recursive, &toc, c.Ignore)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func Translate(c *Config) error {
 // findFiles recursively finds all the file paths in the given directory tree.
 // They are added to the given map as keys. Values will be safe function names
 // for each file, which will be used when generating the output code.
-func findFiles(dir, prefix string, recursive bool, toc *[]Asset) error {
+func findFiles(dir, prefix string, recursive bool, toc *[]Asset, ignore []*regexp.Regexp) error {
 	if len(prefix) > 0 {
 		dir, _ = filepath.Abs(dir)
 		prefix, _ = filepath.Abs(prefix)
@@ -102,9 +102,20 @@ func findFiles(dir, prefix string, recursive bool, toc *[]Asset) error {
 		asset.Path = filepath.Join(dir, file.Name())
 		asset.Name = filepath.ToSlash(asset.Path)
 
+		ignoring := false
+		for _, re := range ignore {
+			if re.MatchString(asset.Path) {
+				ignoring = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if ignoring {
+			continue
+		}
+
 		if file.IsDir() {
 			if recursive {
-				findFiles(asset.Path, prefix, recursive, toc)
+				findFiles(asset.Path, prefix, recursive, toc, ignore)
 			}
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/go-bindata/AppendSliceValue.go b/go-bindata/AppendSliceValue.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5da495
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go-bindata/AppendSliceValue.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package main
+
+import "strings"
+
+// borrowed from https://github.com/hashicorp/serf/blob/master/command/agent/flag_slice_value.go
+
+// AppendSliceValue implements the flag.Value interface and allows multiple
+// calls to the same variable to append a list.
+type AppendSliceValue []string
+
+func (s *AppendSliceValue) String() string {
+	return strings.Join(*s, ",")
+}
+
+func (s *AppendSliceValue) Set(value string) error {
+	if *s == nil {
+		*s = make([]string, 0, 1)
+	}
+
+	*s = append(*s, value)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/go-bindata/main.go b/go-bindata/main.go
index 5a16398..2b93d33 100644
--- a/go-bindata/main.go
+++ b/go-bindata/main.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/jteeuwen/go-bindata"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -46,8 +47,18 @@ func parseArgs() *bindata.Config {
 	flag.BoolVar(&c.NoCompress, "nocompress", c.NoCompress, "Assets will *not* be GZIP compressed when this flag is specified.")
 	flag.StringVar(&c.Output, "o", c.Output, "Optional name of the output file to be generated.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&version, "version", false, "Displays version information.")
+
+	ignore := make([]string, 0)
+	flag.Var((*AppendSliceValue)(&ignore), "ignore", "Regex pattern to ignore")
+
 	flag.Parse()
 
+	patterns := make([]*regexp.Regexp, 0)
+	for _, pattern := range ignore {
+		patterns = append(patterns, regexp.MustCompile(pattern))
+	}
+	c.Ignore = patterns
+
 	if version {
 		fmt.Printf("%s\n", Version())
 		os.Exit(0)