Shell Programming and Scripting

Trying to tar specific files from a directory causes problems when the number of files is too large.

ls ~/logs | wc -l
5928

In the logs directory - I have 5928 files

If I want to include all files with today's date - I run the following command

tar cf ~/archive/LoadLogs_20060302.tar ~/logs/LoadLog_20060302_*.log

However, I get the following error:

/usr/bin/tar: Argument list too long

Any suggestions on how to correct this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

Your tar command doesn't look right. You need something like:
tar cf ~/archive/LoadLogs_20060302.tar ~/logs/LoadLog_20060302_*.log

You can specify an "include file" usually with a -I option. To use, create a directory listing into the include file:

ls -1 ~/logs/LoadLog_20060302_*.log > /tmp/tar.include

Then run the tar command

tar -cf ~/archive/LoadLogs_20060302.tar -I /tmp/tar.include

Thanks for the suggestions - however when I use an asterisk in my matching criteria (even for the "ls" command) - I get the same error.

I guess the default limit for an argument list is used for ALL commands.
Commands like "ls" "gzip" "tar" "cp" "mv" "cat" - all complain when I try to limit the argument list.

I was hoping there was some shell configuration setting that would increase the allowable size - but I'm beginning to think that it's the programs problem - not the shell environment.

Rick

Quite right, I should have seen that coming. Use the find command to generate the include file:

find ~/logs/ -name "LoadLog_20060302_*.log" > /tmp/tar.include

This isn't AIX by chance is it?

not c shell by any chance?

Not C shell.
Running ksh on Unix and Linux - same results on both.

Thanks