Re: cp and exclude?

[Cameron Simpson]

On 01Aug2019 14:13, ToddAndMargo  wrote:
> Is there a way to do a "cp -r" and have it
> exclude certain directories?

Aside from "chmod 0 those_directories..."?

Or: "cp -r a b; rm -r b/c b/d ..."?

Use rsync:

rsync -ia --exclude=/local/path/to/subdir1 --exclude=....... this that

Note that the leading "/" in the --exclude anchors the pattern to the 
top of "this", not the root directory.

Also note that there are a few rsync options which -a does not include, 
notably (IIRC) -H (preserve hard links - may consume memory), -X 
(extended attributes) and -A (acls).

Test with the -n option first.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson