The --exclude section_name option can be used to inform the hex utility to ignore the specified section. If a SECTIONS directive is used, it overrides the --exclude option. For example, if a SECTIONS directive containing the section name mysect is used and an --exclude mysect is specified, the SECTIONS directive takes precedence and mysect is not excluded.

The --exclude option has a limited wildcard capability. The * character can be placed at the beginning or end of the name specifier to indicate a suffix or prefix, respectively. For example, --exclude sect* disqualifies all sections that begin with the characters sect. If you specify the --exclude option on the command line with the * wildcard, use quotes around the section name and wildcard. For example, --exclude"sect*". Using quotes prevents the * from being interpreted by the hex conversion utility. If --exclude is in a command file, do not use quotes.

If multiple object files are given, the object file in which the section to be excluded can be given in the form oname(sname). If the object filename is not provided, all sections matching the section name are excluded. Wildcards cannot be used for the filename, but can appear within the parentheses.