diff --git a/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationConfiguration.kt b/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationConfiguration.kt
index d2b7f83db7..fb4b3674e8 100644
--- a/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationConfiguration.kt
+++ b/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationConfiguration.kt
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ private constructor(
     matchCommentsToNodes: Boolean,
     addIncludesToGraph: Boolean,
     passConfigurations: Map<KClass<out Pass<*>>, PassConfiguration>,
-    /** This list contains the directories which should be excluded from the analysis. */
-    val excludedDirectories: List<Path>
+    /** A list of exclusion patterns used to filter files and directories. */
+    val exclusionPatterns: List<Regex>
 ) {
     /** This list contains all languages which we want to translate. */
     val languages: List<Language<*>>
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ private constructor(
         private var useDefaultPasses = false
         private var passConfigurations: MutableMap<KClass<out Pass<*>>, PassConfiguration> =
             mutableMapOf()
-        private val excludedDirectories = mutableListOf<Path>()
+        private val exclusionPatterns = mutableListOf<Regex>()
 
         fun symbols(symbols: Map<String, String>): Builder {
             this.symbols = symbols
@@ -456,9 +456,17 @@ private constructor(
             return this.configurePass(T::class, config)
         }
 
-        /** Adds the directories to the [excludedDirectories] list. */
-        fun excludedDirs(dirs: List<String>): Builder {
-            excludedDirectories.addAll(dirs.map { Path.of(it) })
+        /**
+         * Sets a list of exclusion patterns for filtering files and directories.
+         *
+         * @param patterns List of exclusion patterns: strings are treated as Regex patterns.
+         *   Example:
+         * ```
+         * exclusionPatterns(listOf(".*test(s)?", "tests"))
+         * ```
+         */
+        fun exclusionPatterns(patterns: List<String>): Builder {
+            exclusionPatterns.addAll(patterns.map { Regex(it) })
             return this
         }
 
@@ -657,7 +665,7 @@ private constructor(
                 matchCommentsToNodes,
                 addIncludesToGraph,
                 passConfigurations,
-                excludedDirectories
+                exclusionPatterns
             )
         }
 
diff --git a/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationManager.kt b/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationManager.kt
index efd584c87c..06edf734b3 100644
--- a/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationManager.kt
+++ b/cpg-core/src/main/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/TranslationManager.kt
@@ -148,8 +148,8 @@ private constructor(
 
             sourceLocations =
                 sourceLocations.filter { file ->
-                    ctx.config.excludedDirectories.none { excludedDir ->
-                        file.toPath().contains(excludedDir)
+                    ctx.config.exclusionPatterns.none { pattern ->
+                        pattern.containsMatchIn(file.absolutePath)
                     }
                 }
 
diff --git a/cpg-language-python/src/test/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/frontends/python/PythonFrontendTest.kt b/cpg-language-python/src/test/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/frontends/python/PythonFrontendTest.kt
index 08d9d8bdcf..6775df2aaf 100644
--- a/cpg-language-python/src/test/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/frontends/python/PythonFrontendTest.kt
+++ b/cpg-language-python/src/test/kotlin/de/fraunhofer/aisec/cpg/frontends/python/PythonFrontendTest.kt
@@ -1586,29 +1586,6 @@ class PythonFrontendTest : BaseTest() {
         }
     }
 
-    @Test
-    fun test() {
-        val directoryPath = Path.of("/home", "lshala", "repos", "nova")
-        val excludedDirs = listOf("tests", "accelerator")
-        val tr =
-            analyze(".py", directoryPath, usePasses = true) {
-                it.registerLanguage<PythonLanguage>()
-                it.excludedDirs(excludedDirs)
-            }
-
-        val problemsList = tr.components.flatMap { it.translationUnits }.flatMap { it.problems }
-
-        val msg =
-            (problemsList)
-                .groupBy { it.problem }
-                .toList()
-                .sortedBy { it.second.size }
-                .reversed()
-                .map { "${it.second.size}: ${it.first}" }
-
-        msg.forEach(System.out::println)
-    }
-
     class PythonValueEvaluator : ValueEvaluator() {
         override fun computeBinaryOpEffect(
             lhsValue: Any?,