diff --git a/sys/man/4/exportfs b/sys/man/4/exportfs
index 649e0444b..b7cbeb979 100644
--- a/sys/man/4/exportfs
+++ b/sys/man/4/exportfs
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ contains one regular expression per line,
 to be matched against path names
 relative to the current working directory
 and starting with
-.BR ./ .
+.BR / .
 For a file to be exported, all lines with a prefix
 .B +
 must match and all those with prefix
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ To export the archive of one user for one month, except for secrets,
 .IP
 .EX
 cd /n/dump
-echo '+ ^\e.(/2003(/10..(/usr(/glenda/?)?)?)?)?' > /tmp/pattern
+echo '+ ^/(2003(/10..(/usr(/glenda/?)?)?)?)?' > /tmp/pattern
 echo '- \e.(aes|pgp)$' >> /tmp/pattern
 exportfs -P /tmp/pattern
 .EE
diff --git a/sys/src/cmd/exportfs/pattern.c b/sys/src/cmd/exportfs/pattern.c
index 0dcbc9380..91abfd755 100644
--- a/sys/src/cmd/exportfs/pattern.c
+++ b/sys/src/cmd/exportfs/pattern.c
@@ -80,16 +80,16 @@ excludefile(char *path)
 	else
 		p = path+1;
 
-	DEBUG(DFD, "checking %s\n", path);
+	DEBUG(DFD, "checking %s\n", p);
 	for(re = include; *re != nil; re++){
 		if(regexec(*re, p, nil, 0) != 1){
-			DEBUG(DFD, "excluded+ %s\n", path);
+			DEBUG(DFD, "excluded+ %s\n", p);
 			return -1;
 		}
 	}
 	for(re = exclude; *re != nil; re++){
 		if(regexec(*re, p, nil, 0) == 1){
-			DEBUG(DFD, "excluded- %s\n", path);
+			DEBUG(DFD, "excluded- %s\n", p);
 			return -1;
 		}
 	}