tar: problems with exclude

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1 Problems with Using the 'exclude' Options
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1 Some users find 'exclude' options confusing.  Here are some common
1 pitfalls:
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1    * The main operating mode of 'tar' does not act on a file name
1      explicitly listed on the command line, if one of its file name
1      components is excluded.  In the example above, if you create an
1      archive and exclude files that end with '*.o', but explicitly name
1      the file 'dir.o/foo' after all the options have been listed,
1      'dir.o/foo' will be excluded from the archive.
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1    * You can sometimes confuse the meanings of '--exclude' and
1      '--exclude-from'.  Be careful: use '--exclude' when files to be
1      excluded are given as a pattern on the command line.  Use
1      '--exclude-from' to introduce the name of a file which contains a
1      list of patterns, one per line; each of these patterns can exclude
1      zero, one, or many files.
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1    * When you use '--exclude=PATTERN', be sure to quote the PATTERN
1      parameter, so GNU 'tar' sees wildcard characters like '*'.  If you
1      do not do this, the shell might expand the '*' itself using files
1      at hand, so 'tar' might receive a list of files instead of one
1      pattern, or none at all, making the command somewhat illegal.  This
1      might not correspond to what you want.
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1      For example, write:
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1           $ tar -c -f ARCHIVE.TAR --exclude '*.o' DIRECTORY
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1      rather than:
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1           # _Wrong!_
1           $ tar -c -f ARCHIVE.TAR --exclude *.o DIRECTORY
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1    * You must use use shell syntax, or globbing, rather than 'regexp'
1      syntax, when using exclude options in 'tar'.  If you try to use
1      'regexp' syntax to describe files to be excluded, your command
1      might fail.
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1    * 
1      In earlier versions of 'tar', what is now the '--exclude-from'
1      option was called '--exclude' instead.  Now, '--exclude' applies to
1      patterns listed on the command line and '--exclude-from' applies to
1      patterns listed in a file.
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