diff --git a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlPlugin.java b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlPlugin.java
index 7b238270..856c6a8d 100644
--- a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlPlugin.java
+++ b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlPlugin.java
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ public void define(Context context) {
         .category("XML")
         .onQualifiers(Qualifiers.PROJECT)
         .build(),
+      PropertyDefinition.builder(XmlSensor.FILENAME_LIST_TO_EXCLUDE_FROM_LOC_METRIC_KEY)
+        .name("Filenames to ignore when counting lines of code")
+        .description("Comma-separated list of file name patterns to skip when counting lines of code. You may use regular expressions as long as they don't contain commas. Usage example: You generate an effective-pom.xml file during your scan and want your Sonarqube rules to run against it BUT don't want the line count for that file captured.")
+        .defaultValue("")
+        .category("XML")
+        .build(),
       Xml.class,
       XmlRulesDefinition.class,
       XmlSonarWayProfile.class,
diff --git a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensor.java b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensor.java
index 7bc6ff8a..c0528cf5 100644
--- a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensor.java
+++ b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensor.java
@@ -21,8 +21,11 @@
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
 import org.sonar.api.batch.fs.FilePredicate;
 import org.sonar.api.batch.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.sonar.api.batch.fs.InputFile;
@@ -66,20 +69,24 @@ public class XmlSensor implements Sensor {
    */
   private static final Logger LOG = Loggers.get(XmlSensor.class);
 
+  public static final String FILENAME_LIST_TO_EXCLUDE_FROM_LOC_METRIC_KEY = "sonar-xml.filename-list-to-exclude-from-lines-of-code-metric";
   private static final Version V6_0 = Version.create(6, 0);
 
   private final Checks<Object> checks;
   private final FileSystem fileSystem;
   private final FilePredicate mainFilesPredicate;
   private final FileLinesContextFactory fileLinesContextFactory;
+  private final Pattern linesOfCodeCountingExclusionsRegexPattern;
 
-  public XmlSensor(FileSystem fileSystem, CheckFactory checkFactory, FileLinesContextFactory fileLinesContextFactory) {
+  public XmlSensor(FileSystem fileSystem, CheckFactory checkFactory, FileLinesContextFactory fileLinesContextFactory, SensorContext context) {
     this.fileLinesContextFactory = fileLinesContextFactory;
     this.checks = checkFactory.create(CheckRepository.REPOSITORY_KEY).addAnnotatedChecks((Iterable<?>) CheckRepository.getCheckClasses());
     this.fileSystem = fileSystem;
     this.mainFilesPredicate = fileSystem.predicates().and(
       fileSystem.predicates().hasType(InputFile.Type.MAIN),
       fileSystem.predicates().hasLanguage(Xml.KEY));
+    String locExclusionRegexPatternString = buildLOCCountExclusionFilePatternsRegex(context.settings().getStringArray(FILENAME_LIST_TO_EXCLUDE_FROM_LOC_METRIC_KEY));
+    this.linesOfCodeCountingExclusionsRegexPattern = "".equals(locExclusionRegexPatternString) ? null : Pattern.compile(locExclusionRegexPatternString);
   }
 
   public void analyse(SensorContext sensorContext) {
@@ -87,7 +94,11 @@ public void analyse(SensorContext sensorContext) {
   }
 
   private void computeLinesMeasures(SensorContext context, XmlFile xmlFile) {
-    LineCounter.analyse(context, fileLinesContextFactory, xmlFile);
+    if (shouldCountLinesOfCode(context, xmlFile)) {
+      LineCounter.analyse(context, fileLinesContextFactory, xmlFile);
+    } else {
+      LOG.debug("Skipping lines of code computation for file '" + xmlFile.getInputFile().fileName() + "'");
+    }
   }
 
   private void runChecks(SensorContext context, XmlFile xmlFile) {
@@ -108,6 +119,37 @@ private void runChecks(SensorContext context, XmlFile xmlFile) {
     }
   }
 
+  private boolean shouldCountLinesOfCode(SensorContext context, XmlFile xmlFile) {
+    boolean result = true;
+    
+    if (linesOfCodeCountingExclusionsRegexPattern != null &&
+        linesOfCodeCountingExclusionsRegexPattern.matcher(xmlFile.getInputFile().fileName()).matches()) {
+      result = false;
+    }
+    
+    return result;
+  }
+  
+  private String buildLOCCountExclusionFilePatternsRegex(final String[] exclusionSettingValue) {
+    List<String> ignoreTheseFiles = Arrays.asList(exclusionSettingValue);
+    
+    StringBuilder regex = new StringBuilder();
+    boolean firstPass = true;
+    
+    for (String currentFilePattern : ignoreTheseFiles) {
+      if (firstPass) {
+        firstPass = false;
+      }
+      else {
+        regex.append("|");
+      }
+      
+      regex.append(currentFilePattern);
+    }
+    
+    return regex.toString();
+  }
+
   private static void saveSyntaxHighlighting(SensorContext context, List<HighlightingData> highlightingDataList, InputFile inputFile) {
     NewHighlighting highlighting = context.newHighlighting().onFile(inputFile);
 
diff --git a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensorTest.java b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensorTest.java
index 0f97bdff..5bafa65c 100644
--- a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensorTest.java
+++ b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/java/org/sonar/plugins/xml/XmlSensorTest.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.assertj.core.api.Condition;
 import org.junit.Rule;
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@
 import org.sonar.api.batch.rule.internal.ActiveRulesBuilder;
 import org.sonar.api.batch.sensor.internal.SensorContextTester;
 import org.sonar.api.batch.sensor.issue.Issue;
+import org.sonar.api.batch.sensor.measure.Measure;
 import org.sonar.api.measures.CoreMetrics;
 import org.sonar.api.measures.FileLinesContext;
 import org.sonar.api.measures.FileLinesContextFactory;
@@ -102,6 +104,48 @@ public void should_execute_on_file_with_chars_before_prolog() throws Exception {
 
     assertThat(context.allIssues()).extracting("ruleKey").containsOnly(ruleKey);
   }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void should_skip_line_count_for_only_specified_filenames() throws Exception {
+    init(true, "some-data-file.xml,bogus-filename.xml");
+    fs.add(createInputFile("xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml"));
+    fs.add(createInputFile("xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml"));
+
+    // Run
+    sensor.analyse(context);
+
+    // Check
+    Measure<Integer> nclocMeasure = context.measure("modulekey:xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml", "ncloc");
+    assertThat(nclocMeasure.value()).isEqualTo(20);
+    System.out.println(nclocMeasure.value());
+
+    nclocMeasure = context.measure("xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml", "ncloc");
+    assertThat(nclocMeasure).isNull();
+
+    assertLog("Skipping lines of code computation for file 'some-data-file.xml'", false);
+    assertNoLog("Skipping lines of code computation for file 'some-configuration-is-code-file.xml'", false);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void should_skip_line_count_for_only_specified_filenames_REGEX() throws Exception {
+    init(true, "some-(data|spring-config)-file.xml,bogus-filename.xml");
+    fs.add(createInputFile("xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml"));
+    fs.add(createInputFile("xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml"));
+
+    // Run
+    sensor.analyse(context);
+
+    // Check
+    Measure<Integer> nclocMeasure = context.measure("modulekey:xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml", "ncloc");
+    assertThat(nclocMeasure.value()).isEqualTo(20);
+    System.out.println(nclocMeasure.value());
+
+    nclocMeasure = context.measure("xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml", "ncloc");
+    assertThat(nclocMeasure).isNull();
+
+    assertLog("Skipping lines of code computation for file 'some-data-file.xml'", false);
+    assertNoLog("Skipping lines of code computation for file 'some-configuration-is-code-file.xml'", false);
+  }
 
   /**
    * Has issue for rule NewlineCheck, but should not be reported.
@@ -140,9 +184,17 @@ public void should_not_execute_test_on_corrupted_file_and_should_not_raise_parsi
   }
 
   private void init(boolean activateParsingErrorCheck) throws Exception {
+    init(activateParsingErrorCheck, null);
+  }
+  
+  private void init(boolean activateParsingErrorCheck, String linesOfCodeCountingExclusionPatternsSetting) throws Exception {
     File moduleBaseDir = new File("src/test/resources");
     context = SensorContextTester.create(moduleBaseDir);
-
+    if (linesOfCodeCountingExclusionPatternsSetting != null) {
+      context.settings().appendProperty(XmlSensor.FILENAME_LIST_TO_EXCLUDE_FROM_LOC_METRIC_KEY, 
+                                        linesOfCodeCountingExclusionPatternsSetting);
+    }
+    
     fs = new DefaultFileSystem(moduleBaseDir);
     fs.setWorkDir(temporaryFolder.newFolder("temp"));
 
@@ -166,7 +218,7 @@ private void init(boolean activateParsingErrorCheck) throws Exception {
     FileLinesContextFactory fileLinesContextFactory = mock(FileLinesContextFactory.class);
     when(fileLinesContextFactory.createFor(any(InputFile.class))).thenReturn(mock(FileLinesContext.class));
 
-    sensor = new XmlSensor(fs, checkFactory, fileLinesContextFactory);
+    sensor = new XmlSensor(fs, checkFactory, fileLinesContextFactory, context);
   }
 
   private DefaultInputFile createInputFile(String name) {
@@ -229,7 +281,7 @@ public void should_analyze_file_with_its_own_encoding() throws IOException {
 
     FileLinesContextFactory fileLinesContextFactory = mock(FileLinesContextFactory.class);
     when(fileLinesContextFactory.createFor(any(InputFile.class))).thenReturn(mock(FileLinesContext.class));
-    sensor = new XmlSensor(fileSystem, checkFactory, fileLinesContextFactory);
+    sensor = new XmlSensor(fileSystem, checkFactory, fileLinesContextFactory, context);
     sensor.analyse(context);
 
     String componentKey = modulekey + ":" + filename;
diff --git a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c57a3bcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-configuration-is-code-file.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!-- could be a Spring, Maven, or other config file. This file is used to validate that lines of code are counted for this kind of XML resource. -->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <groupId>test</groupId>
+  <artifactId>test</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0</version>
+  <packaging>pom</packaging>
+  <name>test</name>
+  <build>
+    <sourceDirectory>src/main/code</sourceDirectory>
+  </build> 
+  <properties>
+  	<sonar.xml.sourceDirectory>src</sonar.xml.sourceDirectory>
+  	<sonar.language>xml</sonar.language>
+    <sonar.dynamicAnalysis>false</sonar.dynamicAnalysis>
+    <sonar.xml.fileExtensions>xml</sonar.xml.fileExtensions>
+    <sonar.xml.schemas>xhtml1-strict</sonar.xml.schemas>
+  </properties>
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fc25af70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sonar-xml-plugin/src/test/resources/xmlsensor/some-data-file.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<content>
+  <item-list>
+  	<item>1</item>
+  	<item>2</item>
+  	<item>3</item>
+  </item-list>
+</content>
\ No newline at end of file