.RS 4
.TP 4
-.BR \-\-exclude=(true|false|flag)
+.BR \-\-exclude=(true|false|all|flag)
A message is called "excluded" if it matches at least one tag in
search.tag_exclude that does not appear explicitly in the search terms.
.BR true ,
prevents excluded messages from matching the search terms.
+.B all
+additionally prevents excluded messages from appearing in displayed
+results, in effect behaving as though the excluded messages do not exist.
+
.B false
allows excluded messages to match search terms and appear in displayed
results. Excluded messages are still marked in the relevant outputs.
.B flag
only has an effect when
-.B --output=summary
-In this case all matching threads are returned but the "match count"
-is the number of matching non-excluded messages in the thread.
+.BR --output=summary .
+The output is almost identical to
+.BR false ,
+but the "match count" is the number of matching non-excluded messages in the
+thread, rather than the number of matching messages.
.RE
.SH EXIT STATUS