diff --git a/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py b/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
index 4fe10c3..6145609 100644
--- a/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
+++ b/ozi_build/_pyc_wheel.py
@@ -134,8 +134,7 @@ def convert_wheel(
         raise TypeError("File to convert must be a *.whl")
 
     if exclude:
-        exclude = re.compile(re.escape(exclude))
-    print(exclude)
+        exclude = re.compile(exclude)
 
     dist_info = "-".join(whl_file.stem.split("-")[:-3])