problems with tar --exclude

Lotharster · 09-12-2006, 04:33 PM

I'm trying to exclude a certain folder and its contents from an archive. I tried

Code:

$ tar --create --file="test.tar" --exclude="test/folder1" test

However, this not only excludes the file

Code:

./test/folder1

, but also other files matching that pattern, e.g.

Code:

./test/somefolder/test/folder1

Is there some way to exclude exactly this one file?
Giving the full pathname, as in

Code:

--exclude="/home/username/test/folder1

results in tar excluding nothing at all.

I already serarched the web and the tar manpages, but I did not find anything regarding that issue.

Any help is appreciated.

bigrigdriver · 09-12-2006, 07:15 PM

First, read http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~lscharf/samd/...+tar+--exclude on the correct syntax for using tar with --exclude,

then read http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...h-exclude.html, paying particular attention to the difference between --exclude and --exclude-from in the tar command.

makyo · 09-13-2006, 03:40 PM

Hi, Lotharster.

Did you get your tar problem solved?

I looked at the references that bigrigdriver mentioned, because I like to know about good ones. It looks like the second one is an HTML of the info file. Not the easiest to understand, but that's *nix man and info pages for you, they're references, not tutorials. The better ones will at least include a few examples.

I'm hoping that you noticed that the exclusions are patterns, which can make for frustration at first, but prove to be very powerful.

Best wishes ... cheers, makyo

Lotharster · 09-15-2006, 07:03 AM

Thanks for your links.
I finally found what I was lookiong for. With the --anchored option, only the initial substring is matched.