How can I create a zip archive of a whole directory via terminal without hidden files?

Question

I have a project with lots of hidden folders / files in it. I want to create a zip-archive of it, but in the archive shouldn't be any hidden folders / files. If files in a hidden folder are not hidden, they should also not be included.

I know that I can create a zip archive of a directory like this:

zip -r zipfile.zip directory

I also know that I can exclude files with the -x option, so I thought this might work:

zip -r zipfile.zip directory -x .*

It didn't work. All hidden directories were still in the zip-file.

Answer 1

This also excludes hidden files in unhidden directories:

find /full_path -path '*/.*' -prune -o -type f -print | zip ~/file.zip -@

Answer 2

Add " to the .*:

zip -r zipfile.zip . -x ".*"

This will result in files starting with a . not to be added into your zip file.

rinzwind@discworld:~/tmp$ ls -la
drwxr-xr-x  2 rinzwind rinzwind 4096 2011-08-28 00:15 tmp
drwxr-xr-x  2 rinzwind rinzwind 4096 2011-08-28 00:15 .tmp
rinzwind@discworld:~/tmp$ zip -r zipfile.zip . -x .*
adding: .tmp/ (stored 0%)
adding: tmp/ (stored 0%)
rinzwind@discworld:~/tmp$ zip -r zipfile.zip . -x ".*"
updating: tmp/ (stored 0%)

Answer 3

ls -A | grep -v '^\.' | zip zipfile.zip -@

this zips all the files in the current directory – but not dot files (nor ANY subdirs).

Answer 4

This one includes all "." directories, subdirectories, and "." files or directories within directories... Essentially the first answer but includes top level "." files.

find /full_path -path '*.*/.*' -prune -o -type f -print | zip ~/file.zip -@