I have a directory structure for dev, and I'm trying to automate the creation of a simple install: a selective copy of the dev structure in a new place, excepting /CVS folders and files and folders starting with the "_" character.

On windows, with xcopy /EXCLUDE flag, I can do something like this:

xcopy . %INSTALL% /E /Y /EXCLUDE:exclude_patterns.txt

Looking to do the same on UNIX. Struggling with ls flags and grep, with no success for far.

Any advice, much appreciated.

How about chmod the folders to exclude?

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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

You need rsync.

http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
http://everythinglinux.org/rsync/

You can also use tar (in Windows terms, zip) which can exclude specified files/folders.

man tar

Thanks! Used rsync in local-only mode, as the man says - improved copy command.