diff --git a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
index c8fc040a6f1..9610b29320f 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
@@ -383,7 +383,10 @@ def check(docname: str) -> Tuple[str, str, int]:
 
             for doc_matcher in self.documents_exclude:
                 if doc_matcher.match(docname):
-                    info = f'{docname} matched {doc_matcher} from linkcheck_exclude_documents'
+                    info = (
+                        f'{docname} matched {doc_matcher.pattern} from '
+                        'linkcheck_exclude_documents'
+                    )
                     return 'ignored', info, 0
 
             if len(uri) == 0 or uri.startswith(('#', 'mailto:', 'tel:')):
diff --git a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
index 0520fb016a7..36250217ff9 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
@@ -631,7 +631,9 @@ def test_get_after_head_raises_connection_error(app):
 def test_linkcheck_exclude_documents(app):
     app.build()
 
+    ignore_reg = re.compile('.* matched .* from linkcheck_exclude_documents')
     with open(app.outdir / 'output.json') as fp:
         for record in fp:
             content = json.loads(record)
             assert content['status'] == 'ignored'
+            assert ignore_reg.match(content['info'])