Ubuntu – How to create a common base folder with tar and how to rename folders

archivecommand linetar

So I'm pretty new to Ubuntu and the whole Linux environment though I'm a computer scientist and I want to become familiar with the basic commands.

At the moment I am working with .tar and .tar.gz files and I have a problem creating one of them.

Let's assume I have the following file structure:

./
|-> a
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]
|-> b
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]

With the following commands I currently create my tar-file:

tar -cvf ../archive.tar a
tar -rvf ../archive.tar b

Now my archive.tar also has the format

archive.tar
|-> a
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]
|-> b
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]

Now let's come to my question:
How can I achieve the following three archive structures given the said file structure above:

Add a common base folder

archive.tar
|-> baseFolder
    |-> a
        |-> Release
            |-> [some files]
    |-> b
        |-> Release
            |-> [some files]

Rename the folders

archive.tar
|-> aChangedFolderName
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]
|-> bChangedFolderName
    |-> Release
        |-> [some files]

Add a common base folder and rename the folders

archive.tar
|-> baseFolder
    |-> aChangedFolderName
        |-> Release
            |-> [some files]
    |-> bChangedFolderName
        |-> Release
            |-> [some files]

For me it doesn't matter if it just can be accomplished in multiple steps, at least I hope I can do it.
And: #1 would be the most important to me.

Best Answer

You can do 1. with the following command:

tar cvf archive.tar --transform 's,^,baseFolder/,'  a b

The archive will contain:

$ tar tvf archive.tar
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/a/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/a/foo
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/b/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/b/bar

For 2. you can run tar with multiple --transform options:

tar cvf archive.tar --transform 's,^a,changed_a,' --transform 's,^b,changed_b,'  a b

The archive will contain:

$ tar tvf archive.tar
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 changed_a/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 changed_a/foo
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 changed_b/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 changed_b/bar

For 3. you can combine 1. and 2. as follows:

tar cvf archive.tar --transform 's,^a,changed_a,' --transform 's,^b,changed_b,' --transform 's,^,baseFolder/,' a b

The archive will contain:

$ tar tvf archive.tar
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/changed_a/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/changed_a/foo
drwxrwxr-x sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/changed_b/
-rw-rw-r-- sylvain/sylvain   0 2015-03-18 12:47 baseFolder/changed_b/bar

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to delete all files in particular folder present in current directory sub-folders excluding a certain file

With find:

find . -path '*/migrations/__init__.py' -exec truncate -s 0 {} + -o -path '*/migrations/*' -delete

This runs find in the current directory (.), and:

for anything matching migrations/__init__.py, it will run the truncate command. truncate -s 0 <file> reduces the file to size 0 (empty);
failing that match, for anything matching migrations/*, it will delete it;
the * in -path matches / unlike the * in bash.

Example:

$ tree                                                                                                                                   
.
├── folder_1
│   └── migrations
│       ├── 0001_initial.py
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── __pycache__
│           ├── 0001_initial.cpython-35.pyc
│           └── __init__.cpython-35.pyc
├── folder_2
│   └── migrations
│       ├── 0001_initial.py
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── __pycache__
│           ├── 0001_initial.cpython-35.pyc
│           └── __init__.cpython-35.pyc
└── folder_3
    ├── admin.py
    ├── apps.py
    ├── __init__.py
    └── migrations
        ├── 0001_initial.py
        ├── __init__.py
        └── __pycache__
            ├── 0001_initial.cpython-35.pyc
            └── __init__.cpython-35.pyc

9 directories, 15 files
$ find . -path '*/migrations/__init__.py' -exec truncate -s 0 {} + -o -path '*/migrations/*' -delete                
$ tree                                                                                              
.
├── folder_1
│   └── migrations
│       └── __init__.py
├── folder_2
│   └── migrations
│       └── __init__.py
└── folder_3
    ├── admin.py
    ├── apps.py
    ├── __init__.py
    └── migrations
        └── __init__.py

6 directories, 6 files

$ wc -l */migrations/__init__.py
0 folder_1/migrations/__init__.py
0 folder_2/migrations/__init__.py
0 folder_3/migrations/__init__.py
0 total

Ubuntu – Using tar to only backup specific folders

Nevermind, I was overlooking the obvious by simply doing this:

tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz /var/www /home/myuser/importantFiles /home/myuser/anotherFolder

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to delete all files in particular folder present in current directory sub-folders excluding a certain file

Ubuntu – Using tar to only backup specific folders

Related Question