How to exclude numeric directories with rsync?

Question

I know rsync has an --exclude option which I use quite frequently. But how can I specify that it should exclude all "numeric" directories?

In the directory listing below I would like to only have it copy css,html,and include

.
..
123414
42344523
345343
2323
css
html
include

Normally my syntax is something like

rsync -avz /local/path/ user@server:/remote/path/ --exclude="cache"

I think it should look something like --exclude="[0-9]*" but I don't think that will work.

score 11 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

11

You can't say “a name that contains only digits” in rsync's pattern syntax. So include all names that contain a non-digit and exclude the rest.

rsync --include='*[!0-9]*' --exclude='*/' …

See also my rsync pattern guide.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Oct 05 '11 at 23:49

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

829,060

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited May 16 '19 at 01:16

7

rsync's exclude option doesn't really support regex, it's more of a shell globbing pattern matching.

If those directories are fairly static, you should just list them in a file and use --exclude-from=/full/path/to/file/exclude_directories.txt.

Updated to provide example

First, you just put the directories into a file:

find . -type d -regex '.*/[0-9]*$' -print > /tmp/rsync-dir-exlcusions.txt

or

( cat <<EOT
123414
42344523
345343
2323
EOT ) > /tmp/rsync-directory-exclusions.txt

then you can do your rsync work:

rsync -avHp --exclude-from=/tmp/rsync-directory-exclusions.txt /path/to/source/ /path/to/dest/

You just need an extra step to set up the text file that contains the directories to exclude, 1 per line.

Keep in mind that the path of the directories in the job, is their relative path to how rsync sees the directory.

edited May 16 '19 at 01:16

Jeff Schaller

67,283
35
116
255

answered Oct 05 '11 at 15:55

Tim Kennedy

19,697

2

You could use a script which uses a regex to create this file before running the rsync – Rory Alsop Oct 05 '11 at 15:57
Could you give an example as an answer? – cwd Oct 05 '11 at 18:27
just updated to include an example, including what @RoryAlsop suggested combined with what thiton suggested below. – Tim Kennedy Oct 05 '11 at 19:40
@TimKennedy In the file containing excludes, does rsync understand line-changes or space is enough? – Abhinav Jun 29 '18 at 19:59
@Abhinav rsync understands one entry per line. spaces will not work. – Tim Kennedy Jun 30 '18 at 18:04

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 05 '11 at 21:41

4

You can do it in one line:

rsync -avHp --exclude-from=<(cd /path/to/source; find . -type d -regex './[0-9]*' | sed -e 's|./||') /path/to/source/ /path/to/dest/

answered Oct 05 '11 at 21:41

k.parnell

296

2

Haa the power of the shell :) – Ludovic Kuty Apr 05 '16 at 10:28

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 05 '11 at 16:18

1

Use find to make a list of the directories to be excluded, then use rsync's --exclude-from option as Tim Kennedy described it.

answered Oct 05 '11 at 16:18

thiton

2,310

score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 13 '18 at 13:21

-1

Use this command:

$> rsync -avlH --exclude=*.ibd --exclude-from=<(ls -p | grep -v / | \
   grep -E 'ibdata|ib_logfile')  /mnt/myfuse/ /u01/my3309/data/

edited Jul 13 '18 at 13:21

perror

3,239
7
33
45

answered Jul 13 '18 at 11:46

York Tsai

1

That excludes InnoDB files -- not numeric directories. – Anthony Geoghegan Jul 13 '18 at 13:21

How to exclude numeric directories with rsync?

5 Answers5