Exclude tar a directory

[addendum]

If use tar file from a directory , how to exclude a sub-directory in this directory ?

ll
drw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Oct 12 11:58 b
drw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Oct 12 10:54 c
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 12 11:57 d
drw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Oct 12 10:54 d
eg . I want to tar all files under the above directory but exclude the sub-directory "c" ( not exclude file ) , could advise how to do it ? thx

[GGA]

hello

u can use the -x option copy file or all files from a directory

regrads gga

[Mugilvannan]

`-S'
`--separate-dirs'
Report the size of each directory separately, not including the
sizes of subdirectories.

`-x'
`--one-file-system'
Skip directories that are on different filesystems from the one
that the argument being processed is on.

`--exclude=PAT'
When recursing, skip subdirectories or files matching PAT. For
example, `du --exclude='*.o'' excludes files whose names end in
`.o'.

`-X FILE'
`--exclude-from=FILE'
Like `--exclude', except take the patterns to exclude from FILE,
one per line. If FILE is `-', take the patterns from standard
input.

[addendum]

thx all replies,

from your suggestions , it seems no parameter can exclude the directory to tar , isn't it ? thx

[Sandman!]

You can supply the directories to be tar'red up using command substitution. Assuming your curent directory is the one that contains the above sub-directories then:

# tar cvf /tmp/tarfile $(ll -tr | awk '$1~/^d/ && $NF!="c" {print $NF}')

[Stephen Keane]

You could use pax to create the archive. you should be able to read/extract it using tar. pax will allow you to pipe the file list into it.

find ... | pax -wf archive_file

You can customize the find/pattern command to only list the files you want?

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

you can use KSH filename generation to let the shell do this for you - just have no HPUX at hand to check, whether the posix shell has this capability as well:
(in ksh)
!(name) will match anything but 'name',
so
tar cf xxx.tar !(c)
will not archive 'c'.

mfG nik

[Kent Ostby]

Put the directory names into a file called useme.

Let's assume that you're dir name that you're excluding isn't "c" , but "mydir":

ll | awk '{print $NF}' | grep -v mydir > useme

verify the list of directories and files:

cat useme

create tarball with just those files:

tar -cvf my.tar `cat useme`

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi Kent,

remember, that a inverse-match (via grep -v mydir) has the bad effect of eliminating entries like
savemydir
as well.
More, the filename generation pattern can easily extended to more than one exception entry like
!(c|d)
which leads to multiple
grep -v one | grep -v other ..
in your solution.
Possible would be
ls | awk '{$1 ~ "mydir";next};{print}' to get the list.

mfG Peter

[Peter Nikitka]

Sorry,
I wanted to state

ls | awk '{$1 == "mydir";next};{print}' to get the list.

[Kent Ostby]

Peter -- you're correct ... it's a point I made somewhere else ...

Taking your comments along with what I wrote earlier:

Put the directory names into a file called useme.

Let's assume that you're dir name that you're excluding isn't "c" , but "mydir":

ls | awk '{$1 == "mydir";next};{print}' > useme

verify the list of directories and files:

cat useme

create tarball with just those files:

tar -cvf my.tar `cat useme`