diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_rewrite.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_rewrite.go
index 9e3ab370d..b4544719d 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_rewrite.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_rewrite.go
@@ -81,13 +81,13 @@ func rewriteSnapshot(ctx context.Context, repo *repository.Repository, sn *resti
 		return false, err
 	}
 
-	checkExclude := func(nodepath string) bool {
+	selectByName := func(nodepath string) bool {
 		for _, reject := range rejectByNameFuncs {
 			if reject(nodepath) {
-				return true
+				return false
 			}
 		}
-		return false
+		return true
 	}
 
 	wg, wgCtx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ func rewriteSnapshot(ctx context.Context, repo *repository.Repository, sn *resti
 	var filteredTree restic.ID
 	wg.Go(func() error {
 		filteredTree, err = walker.FilterTree(wgCtx, repo, "/", *sn.Tree, &walker.TreeFilterVisitor{
-			CheckExclude: checkExclude,
+			SelectByName: selectByName,
 			PrintExclude: func(path string) { Verbosef(fmt.Sprintf("excluding %s\n", path)) },
 		})
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/walker/rewriter.go b/internal/walker/rewriter.go
index e4e049da5..091c4bb2e 100644
--- a/internal/walker/rewriter.go
+++ b/internal/walker/rewriter.go
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
 )
 
-type RejectByNameFunc func(path string) bool
+// SelectByNameFunc returns true for all items that should be included (files and
+// dirs). If false is returned, files are ignored and dirs are not even walked.
+type SelectByNameFunc func(item string) bool
 
 type TreeFilterVisitor struct {
-	CheckExclude RejectByNameFunc
+	SelectByName SelectByNameFunc
 	PrintExclude func(string)
 }
 
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ func FilterTree(ctx context.Context, repo restic.Repository, nodepath string, no
 	tb := restic.NewTreeJSONBuilder()
 	for _, node := range curTree.Nodes {
 		path := path.Join(nodepath, node.Name)
-		if visitor.CheckExclude(path) {
+		if !visitor.SelectByName(path) {
 			if visitor.PrintExclude != nil {
 				visitor.PrintExclude(path)
 			}