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I'm trying to create a zip file from a folder and I'd like to exclude the .git sub-folder from the resulting zip file.

I have gone to the parent folder of the one I want to zip (called bitvolution) and I'm doing:

zip -r bitvolution.zip bitvolution -x ".git"

But it doesn't exclude the .git sub-folder.

I've tried various combinations, -x .git*, -x \.git/*, -x .git/\*, -x \.git/\*. I've also tried using the full path for the exclude argument... but just didn't get there.

Tom
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8 Answers8

394

The correct expression is -x '*.git*', so the full command should be: 

zip -r bitvolution.zip ./bitvolution -x '*.git*'

An explanation from http://selfsolved.com/problems/zip-command-exclude-svn-director:

The correct incantation is

zip -9 -r --exclude=*.svn*  foo.zip [directory-to-compress]

You can also add a
--exclude=*.DS_Store* to exclude the annoying Mac OS X directory display metadata files.

Notice that the expression passed to --exclude is using the entire original relative directory path as the original string to match against. So .svn/* by itself doesn't work; the wildcard character in front ensures that it matches .svn directories anywhere in the directory tree.

NFT Master
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Isaiah
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207

If you're trying to zip up a project which is stored in Git, use the git archive command. From within the source directory:

git archive -o bitvolution.zip HEAD

You can use any commit or tag ID instead of HEAD to archive the project at a certain point.

If you want to add a prefix (e.g., a top level folder) to every file:

git archive -o bitvolution.zip --prefix=bitvolution/ HEAD

You can also adjust the compression level between 0 (no compression) and 9 (maximum compression) inclusive, for example

git archive -o bitvolution.zip -9 HEAD

For other options, see the help page (git help archive).

Blair
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35

I added backslash:

zip -r bitvolution.zip bitvolution -x \*.git\*

man page about backslash:

The backslash avoids the shell filename substitution, so that the name matching is performed by zip at all directory levels.

Priit Tamboom
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13

Assuming you have git installed on the machine you are doing this, you can also use git itself to create your archive.

git archive --format=zip HEAD -o bitvolution.zip
Tatu Lahtela
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7

Use the following format if you want to ignore an entire folder.

For example, to ignore every node_modules folder, in every endpoint:

zip -r API.zip API/* -x */node_modules/*
Nmath
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waz
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7

Here's an example of what I use to remove the .git folder and .DS_Store files found on MacOS and build folders:

zip -r workspace.zip workspace -x '*/.git/*' -x '*/.DS_Store' -x '*/build/*'
stephan
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GMP
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6

If you are using zsh, command should look like:

zip -r target_name.zip source_dir -x '/*.git/*'

If you use: zip -r target_name.zip source_dir -x /*.git/*. without 'regex', zsh will process before zip run. You will get error message:

zsh: no matches found: /*.git/*
Thomas
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g10guang
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1

another way is to use find , then exclude with grep -v

find . -type f|grep -v "*.git"|grep -v "node_modules"| zip myFIle.zip -@

looks easier for me, you might grep -v other strings you wan't to avoid. And if you're on windows , use busybox...

old shredder
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