Cant get exclude categories to work for drop down

Hi!

Im super new to web development but ive been trying to work on my site myself and im almost finished but for the life of me (and 3 days of trying) I can not get my site to exclude categories on these two drop downs

Ive tried what seems to be the common fixes but no luck

?? Any help would be appreciated

First drop down

<?php if($xoouserultra->get_option( ‘uultra_front_publisher_allows_category’ )!=’no’){?>
<div class=”field_row”>
<p><?php echo __(‘Category:’,’xoousers’)?></p>

<p>

<?php

$cats = get_the_category( $post->ID );
$selected = 0;
if ( $cats )
{
$selected = $cats[0]->term_id;
}

if ( $cat_type == ‘normal’ ) {
wp_dropdown_categories( ‘show_option_none=’ . __( ‘– Select –‘, ‘xoousers’ ) . ‘&hierarchical=1&hide_empty=0&orderby=name&name=category[]&id=cat&show_count=0&title_li=&use_desc_for_title=1&class=xoouserultra-input requiredField&exclude=’ . $exclude . ‘&selected=’ . $selected );
} else if ( $cat_type == ‘ajax’ ) {
wp_dropdown_categories( ‘show_option_none=’ . __( ‘– Select –‘, ‘xoousers’ ) . ‘&hierarchical=1&hide_empty=0&orderby=name&name=category[]&id=cat-ajax&show_count=0&title_li=&use_desc_for_title=1&class=xoouserultra-input requiredField&depth=1&exclude=’ . $exclude . ‘&selected=’ . $selected );
} else {
wpuf_category_checklist( $curpost->ID, false, ‘category’, $exclude);
}

?>
</p>
</div>

<?php }?>

Second Drop down:

<?php

$args = array(
‘hierarchical’ => ‘0’,
‘hide_empty’ => ‘0’

);
$categories = get_categories($args);
foreach ($categories as $cat) {
if ($cat->category_parent == 0) {
$catID = $cat->cat_ID;
?>
<option value=”<?php echo $cat->cat_name; ?>”><?php echo $cat->cat_name; ?></option>

<?php
$args2 = array(
‘hide_empty’ => ‘0’,
‘parent’ => $catID
);
$categories = get_categories($args2);
foreach ($categories as $cat) { ?>
<option value=”<?php echo $cat->slug; ?>”>- <?php echo $cat->cat_name; ?></option>
<?php } ?>

<?php } else { ?>
<?php }
} ?>