I know it is possible to exclude a particular folder by a command like this:
tar --exclude='/srv/www/project/node_modules' -zcvf /backup/project.tgz .
My question how to exclude any folder named node_modules anywhere within the entire /srv/www directory, to exclude it and exclude all folders under it?
To exclude the directory named node_modules wherever it is located under /srv/www/ even if there are multiple copies of it under different sub-directories, just do not specify a path in the --exclude part and use it like this:
tar -zcvf /backup/project.tar.gz --exclude "node_modules" /srv/www/
This will exclude all directories and files named exactly node_modules and all sub-directories and files under them anywhere in /srv/www/.
