UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hey all,

I understand there is a way that you can leave out files when tar'in. I've read the man pages but I can't get the command to work. Does anyone know how to do this? Either leave out a file or a hole sub-directory.

If someone does know how this is done can I please just get a example? Thx in advanced!

You can do this :

tar -cvf /dev/rmt/0 *

(In this example you can save archives from the point where you are and its subdirectories.)

To save a tar in the file, look this:

tar -cvf tar_file *

I hope help you

Witt

I know you can do that. But just say I want to tar up th e/etc /usr /bin directories. ok I type

tar cvf etcusrbin /etc /usr /bin

But just say in the /etc directory there is one file say uumm abc.vox and in the /usr directory there's a file call 123.txt. Now I want every other file in that directory apart from those 2.

How do I use tar for this?

I know the example before works, but what do I need to do to tar everything but those 2 files?





P.S Thx for you help witt. It was my fault I asked the wrong question. Well right question asked the wrong way! @ me!

tries

find /etc /usr -print -exec tar cvf your_file {} \;

Obs.: The /bin is a symbolic link to /usr/bin.

I hope help you

Witt

No, he wants to exclude certain files...

You'll have to read the man page to be sure, merlin.
If you have GNU tar, you should be able to use the "-X" (uppercase) option. If you are using a different tar, such as in HP-UX, you probably won't have that option.

You might be able to do it the hard way though...

Code:

find /etc /usr /blah -print > /tmp/tar.list 2>/dev/null
vi /tmp/tar.list  # remove the files manually...
tar cf /dev/rmt/0m `cat /tmp/tar.list`

I don't know if you should put "-type f" in the find command - I'm not thinking straight right now (as if I ever am!)

Hope this helps a little.

You can do this :

find /etc /usr /blah | egrep -v "/etc/abc.vox|/usr/123.txt" > /tmp/file_tar;tar cvf backup_file `cat /tmp/file_tar`;rm /tmp/file_tar


Witt

there is no way to exclude files other than Solaris. You can however (as you probably know) tar multiple files using a wildcard or just by listing the files one by one with a space between them.
-X option is Solaris

word of advice. make sure that after it has been copied that the path is correct. do this by listing the archive

tar -tvf /dev/?????
.
make sure it is what you expect.