How do I zip up a folder but exclude the .git subfolder

Question

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.

score 375 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 26 '19 at 11:19

375

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.

edited Dec 26 '19 at 11:19

NFT Master

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answered Feb 28 '11 at 21:01

Isaiah

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I had to wrap the glob in quotes or escape the asterisks with backslashes, like `zip --exclude '*.git*' -r directory.zip directory` or `zip --exclude \*.git\* -r directory.zip directory` – Dmitry Minkovsky May 29 '14 at 19:37
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If you're worried about losing other files called something.gitwhatever, you can also use `--exclude /.git*`. – Erin Call Sep 25 '14 at 21:54
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in ZSH I had to add a backslash: `-x \*.git\*` – DmitrySandalov Dec 06 '14 at 20:14
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My preferred alternative to backslashes and quotes in zsh: `noglob zip -r out.zip someFolder -x *someExcludedFolder*` – Sébastien Oct 19 '15 at 14:09
How to use it with tar? Its not working with tar command. – RN Kushwaha Sep 20 '16 at 07:03
whats the -9 for? – Robbo_UK Apr 13 '18 at 13:42
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Most of these seem that they will ignore your `.gitignore` files as well. I'd recommend using `'*/.git/*'` instead, as it is way less permissive, or the `git archive` approach that others have mentioned. – dsz Feb 08 '19 at 04:02
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how do I include more than one folder in the exclusions list? – m4l490n Mar 27 '20 at 15:18

score 201 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 14 '11 at 11:08

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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).

answered Dec 14 '11 at 11:08

Blair

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Not only will this not include the git folder but also anything that is in the gitignore file will be excluded as well. You sir get an upvote. – JoeMoe1984 Oct 21 '14 at 10:04
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Just what I was looking to do! – Bjarte Oct 21 '17 at 11:41
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I'm late to the party but this absolutely blew me away. Great answer! – Tom Oct 25 '17 at 10:14
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i wonder why isn't this the best answer – nabtron Jun 07 '18 at 01:52
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for me this was the greatest TIL today... – Shawn Cicoria Jul 08 '18 at 17:12
This is the recommended approach. Note, however, that it only archives what has been committed into the repository, and ignores any changes to the working copy that have not been commit. – Felipe Alvarez Jan 08 '19 at 01:48
Does this recursively include initialized submodules? – user Aug 03 '20 at 16:57
great answer but it does not show how to omit files, which is what I want. – Vincent Gerris Oct 22 '20 at 23:38
This unfortunately doesn't capture submodules, but there's a few solutions for that here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5482544/how-can-i-use-git-archive-to-include-submodules-from-a-bare-repository :-) – Daan van den Bergh Dec 13 '21 at 15:34
To answer the above commenter, the reason this is not marked as the best answer is because Stackoverflow gives the wrong person the power to decide what is the best answer .. the asker. – Chris Noe Jun 27 '22 at 18:11

score 35 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '11 at 10:13

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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.

answered Dec 14 '11 at 10:13

Priit Tamboom

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prepending asterisks with slash forks for me on Ubuntu 14.04 to exclude directories – Dimitry K Mar 23 '16 at 17:04

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 14 '11 at 11:12

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

answered Dec 14 '11 at 11:12

Tatu Lahtela

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score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 08 '18 at 09:58

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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/*

edited Jun 08 '18 at 09:58

Thomas

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answered Jun 08 '18 at 09:35

g10guang

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Thanks! That's what worked for me using Bash on Ubuntu on Windows. – Adriano Monecchi Aug 30 '18 at 11:48
I did not understand how this pattern works, but worked for me at zsh. – insign Feb 25 '19 at 11:51

score 6 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 30 '19 at 02:21

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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/*

edited Oct 30 '19 at 02:21

Nmath

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answered Oct 29 '19 at 23:11

waz

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Very good answer! – GoingMyWay Jan 04 '23 at 13:40

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 04 '23 at 09:12

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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/*'

edited Apr 04 '23 at 09:12

stephan

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answered Dec 06 '20 at 02:18

GMP

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 08 '22 at 09:40

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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...

answered Apr 08 '22 at 09:40

old shredder

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How do I zip up a folder but exclude the .git subfolder

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