how to exclude directories and file zipping a directory?

Question

I, need to zip a directory excluding some subdirectory and file; I used this:

zip -r zipfile.zip . -x ".*" -x "app/bower_components" -x "node_modules" -x "*.zip" -x "node_modules"

without any success; node_modules is a folder in the principal one while bower_components is inside the folder app

You want to exclude all subdirectories or only some of them ? — Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, Jun 10 '15 at 17:16

score 65 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 05 '13 at 18:20

65

I simply make a guess what you want.

-x ".*"

exclude all files beginning with a dot

do it like:

-x .\*

exclude all files (with a dot in the filename)

do it like:

-x \*.\*

--

-x "app/bower_components" -x "node_modules"

exclude this directory and all files in it

do it like:

-x app/bower_components/\* -x node_modules/\*

--

-x "*.zip"

exclude all zip-Files

do it like:

-x \*.zip

You exclude node_modules twice

answered Nov 05 '13 at 18:20

D-E-N

1,624

2

thanks I got it, using various post arrived to that: zip -r * app/* -x\app/bower_components/* -x\node_modules/* -x*.zip – arpho Nov 07 '13 at 15:34
@arpho Your comment above should be an answer as it appears to be working for me... – chesedo Jun 22 '16 at 11:48
-x app/bower_components/* -x node_modules/* doesn work for me why? – jw_ Jan 13 '20 at 03:18
zip -r zipped.zip . -x "public/*" This is what worked for me after adding quotes – Gpak Jan 18 '22 at 08:03

score 34 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 29 '19 at 19:19

34

exclude all node_modules folders in all folders.

zip -r node.zip . -x "**/node_modules/*"

answered Dec 29 '19 at 19:19

x-magix

441

6

Thank you. This is the only answer that really works. – Theodore R. Smith Jan 06 '20 at 18:54
Why not **/node_modules/** – trallnag Jul 23 '22 at 19:43
1

@JellyFilledNuts because by using /* you selecting all folders and files in path. With /** you just determinate any path but no content ... working exmp would be also /*/ at the end but its not necessary for this case – x-magix Jan 24 '24 at 23:48

score 24 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 16 '18 at 14:30

Assuming your directory is a git repository (and judging by the question, it very likely is), you can add directories that you want to exclude to the .gitignore file and use the git archive command to zip contents of your directory:

git archive --format=zip HEAD -o zipfile.zip

In your example, the .gitignore file would have to look like this:

node_modules
app/bower_components

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 10 '15 at 16:50

14

Something like this should do the trick:

zip -r zipped.zip dir1/ -x */\.* *.git* \.* *.zip *.csv *.json *.rb *.bak *.swp *.back *.merge *.txt *.sh dir1/node_modules/**\* dir1/bower_components/**\* dir1/dist/**.*

Where following -x is a list of directories and file (extension) types to exclude.

answered Jun 10 '15 at 16:50

MikeiLL

923
1
7
10

1

Now that I know the **\* is for recursive exclusion. Many thanks. – Duc Tran Mar 09 '17 at 23:31

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 29 '17 at 10:58

3

This works perfect for me on Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo zip -r /home/user/backup/$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")/home_user.zip /home/user -x "*backup*" -x "*.cache*" -x "*test*"

answered Jul 29 '17 at 10:58

Tarik

215

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 12 '21 at 05:49

1

In the folder you want to be zipped:

zip -r abc.zip . -x "node_modules/**" -x "*.git/**"

edited Sep 12 '21 at 05:49

ThunderBird

1,955

answered Sep 11 '21 at 03:46

Ali Hatam

11

the only answer that actually worked; thank you – Démíð Edúardsson Mar 18 '22 at 06:21

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 26 '17 at 14:36

1

in every project skip node_modules like this:

for i in */; do zip -r "${i%/}.zip" "$i" -x "*/\node_modules/*" ; done

answered Jan 26 '17 at 14:36

nils petersohn

111

how to exclude directories and file zipping a directory?

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