OPT_BOOLEAN('d', NULL, &remove_directories,
                                "remove whole directories"),
                { OPTION_CALLBACK, 'e', "exclude", &exclude_list, "pattern",
-                 "exclude <pattern>", PARSE_OPT_NONEG, exclude_cb },
+                 "add <pattern> to ignore rules", PARSE_OPT_NONEG, exclude_cb },
                OPT_BOOLEAN('x', NULL, &ignored, "remove ignored files, too"),
                OPT_BOOLEAN('X', NULL, &ignored_only,
                                "remove only ignored files"),
                setup_standard_excludes(&dir);
 
        for (i = 0; i < exclude_list.nr; i++)
-               add_exclude(exclude_list.items[i].string, "", 0, dir.exclude_list);
+               add_exclude(exclude_list.items[i].string, "", 0,
+                           &dir.exclude_list[EXC_CMDL]);
 
        pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv);