diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce65798
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+name: Test this action
+
+on: push
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: Test action
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - run: |
+          sh test.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 23d8d6f..404bc62 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ jobs:
           path: ./a-custom-path
 ```
 
+## Contributors
+
+Most of the work was done by @Rotendahl, I mainly copy-pasted stuff from stack overflow :)
+
 <!--
-  TODO check if it's possible to use the virtual host bash instead of docker
   TODO rewrite using js (better performance)
 -->
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 8ce51d8..8fcccec 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -11,14 +11,14 @@ runs:
   image: "Dockerfile"
   args:
     - ${{ inputs.path }}
+    - ${{ inputs.exclude }}
 
 inputs:
   path:
     description: Path to check
     required: false
     default: "."
-#
-# # TODO return exact number?
-# outputs:
-#   files-found:
-#     description: Number of files with CRLF endings
+  exclude:
+    description: Space-separated list of dirs to exclude
+    required: false
+    default: ""
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 97602a3..d4cee7e
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,27 +1,30 @@
-echo "searching for CRLF endings in: $1"
+#!/bin/bash
+
+printf "searching for CRLF endings in: $1\n"
 # TODO allow multiple paths with $@ instead of $1
 
 BOLD_RED='\033[1;31m'
 BOLD_GREEN='\033[1;32m'
 NC='\033[0m'
 
-ERROR_COUNT=0
+FILES_TYPES="$(\
+    find . ! -path "./.git/*" -not -type d  -exec file "{}" ";"
+)"
 
-if \
-  grep \
-    --recursive \
-    --files-with-matches \
-    --binary \
-    --binary-files=without-match \
-    --max-count=1 \
-    --exclude-dir="\.git" \
-    $'\r' \
-    $1 \
-  ; then
-  # TODO exit status should be number of files with wrong endings found
-  echo -e "${BOLD_RED}Found at least a file with CRLF endings.${NC}"
-  exit 1
-fi
+FILES_WITH_CRLF=$(echo "$FILES_TYPES" | grep " CRLF " | cut -d " " -f 1 | cut -d ":" -f 1)
 
-echo -e "${BOLD_GREEN}No files with CRLF endings found.${NC}"
-exit 0
+for word in $2
+do
+    FILES_WITH_CRLF=$(echo "$FILES_WITH_CRLF" | grep "^./$word" --invert-match)
+done
+
+if [ -z "$FILES_WITH_CRLF" ]
+then
+    echo "${BOLD_GREEN}No files with CRLF endings found.${NC}"
+    exit 0
+else
+    NR_FILES=$(echo "$FILES_WITH_CRLF" | wc -l)
+    echo "${BOLD_RED}Found $NR_FILES files with CRLF endings.${NC}"
+    echo "$FILES_WITH_CRLF"
+    exit $NR_FILES
+fi
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc753e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# this is a sorry excuse for a test, but hey, it kinda works
+
+mkdir -p "temp"
+
+printf "\r\n" > "temp/bad"
+printf "\r\n" > "temp/ignored"
+printf "\n" > "temp/good"
+
+./entrypoint.sh . "temp/ignored"
+
+RESULT="$?"
+
+rm -r "temp"
+
+# is there a better way to do this?
+[ $RESULT -eq 1 ]
+exit $?