diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4a485fb2..0af9abb9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .DS_Store
 wp-cli.local.yml
-node_modules/
-vendor/
+/node_modules
+/vendor
 *.zip
 *.tar.gz
 *.swp
diff --git a/src/IterableCodeExtractor.php b/src/IterableCodeExtractor.php
index 531b2021..f0206ebe 100644
--- a/src/IterableCodeExtractor.php
+++ b/src/IterableCodeExtractor.php
@@ -205,6 +205,10 @@ function ( $file, $key, $iterator ) use ( $include, $exclude, $extensions ) {
 					/** @var RecursiveCallbackFilterIterator $iterator */
 					/** @var SplFileInfo $file */
 
+					// Normalize include and exclude paths.
+					$include = array_map( 'static::trim_leading_slash', $include );
+					$exclude = array_map( 'static::trim_leading_slash', $exclude );
+
 					// If no $include is passed everything gets the weakest possible matching score.
 					$inclusion_score = empty( $include ) ? 0.1 : static::calculateMatchScore( $file, $include );
 					$exclusion_score = static::calculateMatchScore( $file, $exclude );
@@ -214,12 +218,12 @@ function ( $file, $key, $iterator ) use ( $include, $exclude, $extensions ) {
 						return true;
 					}
 
-					if ( 0 === $inclusion_score || $exclusion_score > $inclusion_score ) {
+					if ( ( 0 === $inclusion_score || $exclusion_score > $inclusion_score ) && $iterator->hasChildren() ) {
 						// Always include directories that may have matching children even if they are excluded.
-						return $iterator->hasChildren() && static::containsMatchingChildren( $file, $include );
+						return static::containsMatchingChildren( $file, $include );
 					}
 
-					return ( $file->isFile() && in_array( $file->getExtension(), $extensions, true ) );
+					return ( ( $inclusion_score >= $exclusion_score ) && $file->isFile() && in_array( $file->getExtension(), $extensions, true ) );
 				}
 			),
 			RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST
@@ -238,4 +242,14 @@ function ( $file, $key, $iterator ) use ( $include, $exclude, $extensions ) {
 
 		return $filtered_files;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Trim leading slash from a path.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $path Path to trim.
+	 * @return string Trimmed path.
+	 */
+	private static function trim_leading_slash( $path ) {
+		return ltrim( $path, '/' );
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/IterableCodeExtractorTest.php b/tests/IterableCodeExtractorTest.php
index d5d29e76..9f25cb46 100644
--- a/tests/IterableCodeExtractorTest.php
+++ b/tests/IterableCodeExtractorTest.php
@@ -120,7 +120,32 @@ public function test_can_return_all_directory_files_sorted() {
 			static::$base . 'foo/bar/foo/bar/foo/bar/deep_directory_also_included.php',
 			static::$base . 'foo/bar/foofoo/included.js',
 			static::$base . 'hoge/should_NOT_be_included.js',
+			static::$base . 'vendor/vendor-file.php',
 		);
 		$this->assertEquals( $expected, $result );
 	}
+
+	public function test_can_include_file_in_excluded_folder() {
+		$includes = [ 'vendor/vendor-file.php' ];
+		$excludes = [ 'vendor' ];
+		$result   = IterableCodeExtractor::getFilesFromDirectory( self::$base, $includes, $excludes, [ 'php', 'js' ] );
+		$expected = static::$base . 'vendor/vendor-file.php';
+		$this->assertContains( $expected, $result );
+	}
+
+	public function test_can_include_file_in_excluded_folder_with_leading_slash() {
+		$includes = [ '/vendor/vendor-file.php' ];
+		$excludes = [ 'vendor' ];
+		$result   = IterableCodeExtractor::getFilesFromDirectory( self::$base, $includes, $excludes, [ 'php', 'js' ] );
+		$expected = static::$base . 'vendor/vendor-file.php';
+		$this->assertContains( $expected, $result );
+	}
+
+	public function test_can_include_file_in_excluded_folder_by_wildcard() {
+		$includes = [ 'vendor/**' ];
+		$excludes = [ 'vendor' ];
+		$result   = IterableCodeExtractor::getFilesFromDirectory( self::$base, $includes, $excludes, [ 'php', 'js' ] );
+		$expected = static::$base . 'vendor/vendor-file.php';
+		$this->assertContains( $expected, $result );
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/data/vendor/vendor-file.php b/tests/data/vendor/vendor-file.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b