exclude directory with tar command

Question

T would like to use the tar command in Linux to back up some files, but i would like to exclude a specific directory from the archive.

How can I do that?

BuildTheRobots · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-06 14:31:54Z

3

so, lets back up the directory /directory and everything in it, but ignoring any files called IGNORE-ME.

tar -cf backup.tar /directory --exclude "IGNORE-ME"

If it wasn't snowing out, i'd probably point out that man tar is as good as RTFM (and google 'tar exclude file' is even faster).

answered Jan 6, 2010 at 14:31

BuildTheRobots

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Kyle Brandt · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-06 14:33:08Z

2

You can also put all of the patterns in a file and use:

-X, --exclude-from=FILE
              exclude files matching patterns listed in FILE

answered Jan 6, 2010 at 14:33

Kyle Brandt

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much better answer than mine -well, far more practical assuming you want to mask more than the one file :) see, I read the man page, but obviously not all the way down to -X ;)
– BuildTheRobots
Jan 6, 2010 at 20:22

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