7zip: Exclude hidden directories

Question

How do I exclude hidden directories when creating an archive using 7zip's command line version?

I tried -x!".*", but that didn't work.

If you know the pattern of hidden file then its very easy like .svn or .git etc.. but if there is no pattern in that case you must go for staging. — prashant thakre, Apr 20 '15 at 14:01

score 19 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 09 '16 at 15:26

19

You need to add the r ("recurse") flag to the -x option if you want it to match files inside subdirectories.

For example, the following creates an archive from the whole directory tree under folder/ except for any files that start with a dot:

7z a -xr'!.*' archive.7z folder/

answered Jan 09 '16 at 15:26

smls

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n.b.: Note that the exclamation mark has to be quoted for bash and zsh. – smls Jan 09 '16 at 15:29

Prasad Narasimha · Answer 2 · 2017-03-27T07:58:10.373

12

I had the same problem on windows 7 64bit 7zip.

After doing some research I found the following points:

1) single/double quotes ' " does not work on windows - 7zip says incorrect wirdcard

2) excluding based on file/folder attributes is not possible - only option is either to exclude with wild cards or make an exclude list.

3) in -x option, file is denoted as < path>\< filename.ext> and a folder as < path>\< folder>/ (with a slash at the end)

4) format 1: with ! mark (pattern directly with command) you can give something like:

  a) 7z a -xr!<path>\<folder to exclude>/ archive.7z <zip folder>/

This excludes .svn folder in any path from zip folder recursively

  b) 7z a -xr!*\.svn/ archive.7z <folder>/

5) format 2: with @ symbol you can give exclude list like this:

  a) 7z a -xr@<7z exclude list file> <archive name>.7z <folder>/

where an exclude list file can have:

  *\.svn/
  *\output/
  *\Document/
  *\Measurements/
  *.xlsx
  *.bak

my favorite option is to use an exclude list

edited Mar 27 '17 at 07:58

answered Mar 10 '17 at 13:21

Prasad Narasimha

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Single quotes worked for me inside a PowerShell script. – Sébastien Mar 25 '19 at 16:00
Thanks for the detailed explanation and examples! When doing a `7z a -xr!*\node_modules/ archive.7z d:\Workspace\my-project` using the trailing slash for node_modules folder or not (your point 3) ) did not make a difference though. – hennzen Jan 24 '20 at 09:19
Thanks for the info and appreciation. The newer versions may have modified -x option and interpretation. I will check again and modify my answer. – Prasad Narasimha May 26 '20 at 22:27

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '18 at 15:54

3

this would work for ignoring hidden files ... 7z.exe a -xr!.git\ -xr!*~ ".zip"

answered Dec 14 '18 at 15:54

Pavan Nayakanti

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 01 '20 at 19:20

2

I had a problem on Win64 and an exclude file. I couldn't get the .git folder excluded. The simple ".git\" didn't work, neither any other usual patterns. In the end excluding "*git\" worked (note: no dot).

answered Jul 01 '20 at 19:20

Cornel Masson

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7zip: Exclude hidden directories

4 Answers4