UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

I'm trying to tar 3000 files into a single tar file to be extracted on another server. Command I'm using:

find . -name '*cost*' -print| xargs tar -cvf mylist.tar (Note tar is contained on filesystem not tape drive which is what I want)

Above command works fine and displays all 3000+ file archived.

The problem is when i extract the file, it only extacts 34 of the files contained in the tar. Command used to extract:

tar -xvf mylist.tar

When I also query my tar file created (i.e. mylist.tar), it also display only 34files. Command used to display files:
tar -vtf mylist.tar

Any ideas whats I'm doing wrong please as any help would be appreciated to extract all files.

OS - TRU64 ver 4.0f

thanks
Bud.

This is because xargs takes the files from the list output by find in the pipe a batch at a time, so your command is actually continually overwriting the tar file each time a new batch is taken - thus there are only 34 files in the argument list xargs gives to tar the last time xargs is invoked.

Do something like

Code:

find . -name '*cost*' -print | while read line; do
if [ ! -e mylist.tar ]; then
   tar cvf mylist.tar "$line"
else
   tar uvf mylist.tar "$line"
fi
done

It'll be slow but it'll work.

If that's not to your liking try using cpio or something else instead.

Cheers
ZB

Most versions of tar allow you specify a file which contains filenames. Have a look in your manual pages.

Thanks heaps guys, managed to solve the problem. The trip was to tar the file not from teh current directory (i.e where the files reside) but from the earlier directory. Zazzybob you were correct as well.