7zip: Exclude hidden directories [closed]

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.

Ambition

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. – Masse

Answer 1

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/

Subdominant

n.b.: Note that the exclamation mark has to be quoted for bash and zsh. – Subdominant

Answer 2

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

Bevash

Single quotes worked for me inside a PowerShell script. – Gubernatorial

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. – Holdfast

Thanks for the info and appreciation. The newer versions may have modified -x option and interpretation. I will check again and modify my answer. – Bevash

Answer 3

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

Radiochemistry

this is what i need, to exlude .git hidden folders , and it works! – Sym

Answer 4

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).

Damali