using rsync to copy files and folders

Quest for a tool to do a copy excluding hidden files lead me to find the rsync command. Here is how I copy a folder from source to destination excluding all hidden files/folders (all that with a "." prefix in the name).

rsync -a --exclude='.*' source/ destination/

This might be especially useful when copying folders checked out from SVN, that needs to be checked-in to a different location. Having the .svn folder under sub-folders can cause them not to be checked in.