UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello

I need help with tar. I want to create a tar archive and compress it at one operation. I want also to exclude some subdirectories from a directory which is archived.

For example I need to archive the /aaa/bbb/ccc directory and create the ccc.tar.gz file. But I don't want the /aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd directory to be archived. Is it possible to that all issues at once in one command?

Regards,
Pit

You can probably chain a list of commands together.

If you know which files and directories to tar, it will be much easier.

On solaris
you can tar and compress using

cd /aaa/bbb; tar cvf - ./<ccc> | gzip - ccc.tar.gz

use -X to exclude directories, and -l for file list, whatever is more convenient for you.

on AIX replace gzip with compress (you will get a .Z file instead)

on AIX you only have -L to include the file list.

Obviously if you have a file list and know which directories to exclude you can type them in before hand and have a short one-liner.

Otherwise you may need a loop using ls and check for a directory and >> to the exclude file before you perform your tar.