# How to \*\*include\*\* files **URL:** \ **Category:** General Topics\ **Created:** [November 29, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/how-to-include-files/3490 "2024-11-29T16:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mankoff](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/mankoff/32/1294_2.png) [@mankoff](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/mankoff)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/how-to-include-files/3490/1 "2024-11-29T16:15:25Z")
## Introduction There are a few questions on how to include files (not just exclude), and a few answers. I’ve solved this for me, and wanted to document it here in case this helps others. I’ll start with an example `.kopiaignore` but also show how to test things quickly for your own use case. ## Example .kopiaignore to include some files and folders The following `.kopiaignore` in my home folder does the following: - Ignores all folders named `G` or `G_*` anywhere including sub-folders - Ignores all `tmp` folders - Ignores the `data`, `ESSD`, and `other` folder - **Includes** all files named `YES.file` or `*.org` everywhere, even if they are in excluded folders - **Includes** all PDF files in `other`, but not elsewhere - **Includes** all folders named `2023` and everything under them (even files named `NO.file`), even if they are previously excluded. - You can add more exclusions after the inclusions, for example to skip all `NO.file`, even though the `2023` line includes them. ```auto G G_* tmp data/** ESSD/** other/**!**/ ! **/** /*.org ! **/** /YES.file !other/**/*.pdf ! **/** /2023/** ``` How to test your own exclude/include filter ### Make test directory structure ```bash # Set up synthetic files and folders in ~/tmp/foo mkdir -p tmp/foo cd tmp/foo # Set up folder structure and touch files mkdir -p ESSD/{2023,2024}/{a,b,c}/data/{v1,v2} touch ESSD/{2023,2024}/{a,b,c}/data/{v1,v2}/NO.file touch ESSD/{2023,2024}/{a,b,c}/YES.file mkdir -p data/{foo,bar,baz}/{a,b,c}/{one,two,three} touch data/{foo,bar,baz}/{a,b,c}/readme.org touch data/{foo,bar,baz}/readme.org touch data/{foo,bar,baz}/{a,b,c}/NO.dat mkdir -p other/{tmp,foo}/{tmp,bar}/tmp touch other/{tmp,foo}/{tmp,bar}/tmp/YES.file touch other/{tmp,foo}/{tmp,bar}/YES.file touch other/{tmp,foo}/YES.file touch other/YES.file mkdir -p other/{tmp,foo}/{tmp,bar}/{G,G_foo} mkdir -p other/{tmp,foo}/{G,G_foo} touch other/tmp/TEST.pdf data/foo/TEST.pdf ``` After the above commands, I have the following folder and file structure in `~/tmp/foo/` ```auto $ tree . ├── data │ ├── bar │ │ ├── a │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ ├── b │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ ├── c │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ └── readme.org │ ├── baz │ │ ├── a │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ ├── b │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ ├── c │ │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ │ ├── one │ │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ │ ├── three │ │ │ └── two │ │ └── readme.org │ └── foo │ ├── a │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ ├── one │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ ├── three │ │ └── two │ ├── b │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ ├── one │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ ├── three │ │ └── two │ ├── c │ │ ├── NO.dat │ │ ├── one │ │ ├── readme.org │ │ ├── three │ │ └── two │ ├── readme.org │ └── TEST.pdf ├── ESSD │ ├── 2023 │ │ ├── a │ │ │ ├── data │ │ │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ │ └── v2 │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ ├── b │ │ │ ├── data │ │ │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ │ └── v2 │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ └── c │ │ ├── data │ │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ └── v2 │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ └── YES.file │ └── 2024 │ ├── a │ │ ├── data │ │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ └── v2 │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ └── YES.file │ ├── b │ │ ├── data │ │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ │ └── v2 │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ └── YES.file │ └── c │ ├── data │ │ ├── v1 │ │ │ └── NO.file │ │ └── v2 │ │ └── NO.file │ └── YES.file └── other ├── foo │ ├── bar │ │ ├── G │ │ ├── G_foo │ │ ├── tmp │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ └── YES.file │ ├── G │ ├── G_foo │ ├── tmp │ │ ├── G │ │ ├── G_foo │ │ ├── tmp │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ └── YES.file │ └── YES.file ├── tmp │ ├── bar │ │ ├── G │ │ ├── G_foo │ │ ├── tmp │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ └── YES.file │ ├── G │ ├── G_foo │ ├── TEST.pdf │ ├── tmp │ │ ├── G │ │ ├── G_foo │ │ ├── tmp │ │ │ └── YES.file │ │ └── YES.file │ └── YES.file └── YES.file 90 directories, 52 files ``` ## Back up files and then immediately list files that were backed up Set up Kopia (in GUI or however you prefer) to snapshot your `~/tmp/foo` folder one time. Dont’ worry about ignoring files for this first backup. We’ll do further backups and comparisons on the command line. The following script performs a backup, mounts it, lists the files, and then unmounts it. I’m running this in Org Babel code blocks so it’s easy to tweak the `HEREDOC` section and then just rerun to regenerate the output. ```bash # Recreate .kopiaignore cat << EOF >> ~/tmp/foo/.kopiaignore G G_* tmp data/** ESSD/** other/**!**/ ! **/** /*.org ! **/** /2023/**! **/** /YES !other/**/*.pdf EOF kopia snapshot create /home/kdm/tmp/foo/ # take a snapshot # find latest id=$(kopia snapshot list /home/kdm/tmp/foo/ | grep latest-1 | tail -n1 | cut -d" " -f6) && echo $id mntdir="/tmp/kopia-mnt" mkdir ${mntdir} # only run 1x, then comment out kopia mount ${id} ${mntdir} & # mount latest in background but wait for mount to finish sleep 1 find ${mntdir} # list files kill %1 # kill mount ``` When I run the above code, I immediately get a file list. I can easily tweak the `.kopiaignore` and re-run to test patterns and exclude-then-include the specific folders, files, and file types that I want. ## Clean up - Move your `.kopiaignore` to your real (big) backup - Delete your test folder on disk - Delete your snapshots in Kopia I hope this is helpful to others.