diff --git a/src/rebar_appups.erl b/src/rebar_appups.erl
index 38e7b72..88ea705 100644
--- a/src/rebar_appups.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_appups.erl
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@
     {_Added, _Removed, Upgraded} = get_apps(Name, OldVerPath, NewVerPath),
 
     %% Get a list of any appup files that exist in the new release
-    NewAppUpFiles = rebar_utils:find_files(
-                      filename:join([NewVerPath, "lib"]), "^[^._].*.appup$"),
+    NewAppUpFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(
+                      filename:join([NewVerPath, "lib"]), ".appup"),
 
     %% Convert the list of appup files into app names
     AppUpApps = [file_to_name(File) || File <- NewAppUpFiles],
diff --git a/src/rebar_erlc_compiler.erl b/src/rebar_erlc_compiler.erl
index e4abd3d..c4cd7b1 100644
--- a/src/rebar_erlc_compiler.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_erlc_compiler.erl
@@ -47,8 +47,6 @@
           info = {[], []} :: erlc_info()
         }).
 
--define(RE_PREFIX, "^[^._]").
-
 -ifdef(namespaced_types).
 %% digraph:graph() exists starting from Erlang 17.
 -type rebar_digraph() :: digraph:graph().
@@ -112,14 +110,14 @@ compile(Config, _AppFile) ->
 
 -spec clean(rebar_config:config(), file:filename()) -> 'ok'.
 clean(Config, _AppFile) ->
-    MibFiles = rebar_utils:find_files("mibs", ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.mib\$"),
+    MibFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("mibs", ".mib"),
     MIBs = [filename:rootname(filename:basename(MIB)) || MIB <- MibFiles],
     rebar_file_utils:delete_each(
       [filename:join(["include",MIB++".hrl"]) || MIB <- MIBs]),
     lists:foreach(fun(F) -> ok = rebar_file_utils:rm_rf(F) end,
                   ["ebin/*.beam", "priv/mibs/*.bin"]),
 
-    YrlFiles = rebar_utils:find_files("src", ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.[x|y]rl\$"),
+    YrlFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("src", ".[x|y]rl"),
     rebar_file_utils:delete_each(
       [ binary_to_list(iolist_to_binary(re:replace(F, "\\.[x|y]rl$", ".erl")))
         || F <- YrlFiles ]),
@@ -131,7 +129,7 @@ clean(Config, _AppFile) ->
     %% directory structure in ebin with .beam files within. As such, we want
     %% to scan whatever is left in the ebin/ directory for sub-dirs which
     %% satisfy our criteria.
-    BeamFiles = rebar_utils:find_files("ebin", ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.beam\$"),
+    BeamFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("ebin", ".beam"),
     rebar_file_utils:delete_each(BeamFiles),
     lists:foreach(fun(Dir) -> delete_dir(Dir, dirs(Dir)) end, dirs("ebin")),
     ok.
@@ -142,7 +140,7 @@ clean(Config, _AppFile) ->
 
 test_compile(Config, Cmd, OutDir) ->
     %% Obtain all the test modules for inclusion in the compile stage.
-    TestErls = rebar_utils:find_files("test", ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.erl\$"),
+    TestErls = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("test", ".erl"),
 
     ErlOpts = rebar_utils:erl_opts(Config),
     {Config1, ErlOpts1} = test_compile_config_and_opts(Config, ErlOpts, Cmd),
@@ -153,8 +151,7 @@ test_compile(Config, Cmd, OutDir) ->
     SrcDirs = rebar_utils:src_dirs(proplists:append_values(src_dirs, ErlOpts1)),
     SrcErls = lists:foldl(
                 fun(Dir, Acc) ->
-                        Files = rebar_utils:find_files(
-                                  Dir, ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.erl\$"),
+                        Files = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(Dir, ".erl"),
                         lists:append(Acc, Files)
                 end, [], SrcDirs),
 
@@ -649,7 +646,7 @@ gather_src([], Srcs) ->
     Srcs;
 gather_src([Dir|Rest], Srcs) ->
     gather_src(
-      Rest, Srcs ++ rebar_utils:find_files(Dir, ?RE_PREFIX".*\\.erl\$")).
+      Rest, Srcs ++ rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(Dir, ".erl")).
 
 -spec dirs(file:filename()) -> [file:filename()].
 dirs(Dir) ->
diff --git a/src/rebar_proto_compiler.erl b/src/rebar_proto_compiler.erl
index 61871bd..bed9ced 100644
--- a/src/rebar_proto_compiler.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_proto_compiler.erl
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 %% ===================================================================
 
 compile(Config, AppFile) ->
-    case rebar_utils:find_files("src", "^[^._].*\\.proto$") of
+    case rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("src", ".proto", true) of
         [] ->
             ok;
         Protos ->
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ compile(Config, AppFile) ->
 
 clean(Config, AppFile) ->
     %% Get a list of generated .beam and .hrl files and then delete them
-    Protos = rebar_utils:find_files("src", "^[^._].*\\.proto$"),
+    Protos = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext("src", ".proto", true),
     case Protos of
         [] ->
             ok;
diff --git a/src/rebar_qc.erl b/src/rebar_qc.erl
index 5ec6110..80b2102 100644
--- a/src/rebar_qc.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_qc.erl
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ qc_module(QC=eqc, [], M) -> QC:module(M);
 qc_module(QC=eqc, QCOpts, M) -> QC:module(QCOpts, M).
 
 find_prop_mods() ->
-    Beams = rebar_utils:find_files(?QC_DIR, "^[^._].*\\.beam\$"),
+    Beams = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(?QC_DIR, ".beam"),
     [M || M <- [rebar_utils:erl_to_mod(Beam) || Beam <- Beams], has_prop(M)].
 
 has_prop(Mod) ->
diff --git a/src/rebar_templater.erl b/src/rebar_templater.erl
index dd89f3a..085ac1c 100644
--- a/src/rebar_templater.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_templater.erl
@@ -242,11 +242,10 @@ find_escript_templates(Files) ->
 
 find_disk_templates(Config) ->
     OtherTemplates = find_other_templates(Config),
-    HomeFiles = rebar_utils:find_files(filename:join([os:getenv("HOME"),
-                                                      ".rebar", "templates"]),
-                                       ?TEMPLATE_RE),
+    HomeTemplates = filename:join([os:getenv("HOME"), ".rebar", "templates"]),
+    HomeFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(HomeTemplates, ".template"),
     Recursive = rebar_config:is_recursive(Config),
-    LocalFiles = rebar_utils:find_files(".", ?TEMPLATE_RE, Recursive),
+    LocalFiles = rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(".", ".template", Recursive),
     [{file, F} || F <- OtherTemplates ++ HomeFiles ++ LocalFiles].
 
 find_other_templates(Config) ->
@@ -254,7 +253,7 @@ find_other_templates(Config) ->
         undefined ->
             [];
         TemplateDir ->
-            rebar_utils:find_files(TemplateDir, ?TEMPLATE_RE)
+            rebar_utils:find_files_by_ext(TemplateDir, ".template")
     end.
 
 select_template([], Template) ->