diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e8d64cc..aa54d41 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 .idea
-test.sh
\ No newline at end of file
+test.sh
+*~
diff --git a/rsync_tmbackup.sh b/rsync_tmbackup.sh
index 0992d3c..2d67694 100755
--- a/rsync_tmbackup.sh
+++ b/rsync_tmbackup.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ trap 'fn_terminate_script' SIGINT
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Small utility functions for reducing code duplication
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+fn_display_usage() {
+	fn_log_info "Usage : $(basename $0) <source> <[user@host:]destination> [exclude-pattern-file]"
+}
 
 fn_parse_date() {
     # Converts YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS to YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS and then to Unix Epoch.
@@ -110,6 +113,11 @@ SSH_DEST_FOLDER=""
 SSH_CMD=""
 SSH_FOLDER_PREFIX=""
 
+#display usage information if required arguments are not passed
+if [[ "${#@}" -lt 2 ]]; then
+	fn_display_usage
+	exit 1
+fi
 SRC_FOLDER="${1%/}"
 DEST_FOLDER="${2%/}"
 EXCLUSION_FILE="$3"