backup-directory-alist

backup-directory-alist is a variable defined in `files.el'.
Its value is

nil

Documentation:
Alist of filename patterns and backup directory names.
Each element looks like (REGEXP . DIRECTORY). Backups of files with
names matching REGEXP will be made in DIRECTORY. DIRECTORY may be
relative or absolute. If it is absolute, so that all matching files
are backed up into the same directory, the file names in this
directory will be the full name of the file backed up with all
directory separators changed to `!' to prevent clashes. This will not
work correctly if your filesystem truncates the resulting name.

For the common case of all backups going into one directory, the alist
should contain a single element pairing "." with the appropriate
directory name.

If this variable is nil, or it fails to match a filename, the backup
is made in the original file's directory.

On MS-DOS filesystems without long names this variable is always
ignored.

You can customize this variable.