How to create a tar.gz file from a folder excluding a folder

Question

How do I exclude a file or folder while creating a tar.gz file with tar command?

Answer 1

Simple example, creating a gzipped tarball out of a directory, excluding a subdirectory and listing the contents:

$ ls fruit/
apple  banana  peach  tomato
$ tar czf onlyfruit.tar.gz --exclude=tomato fruit/
$ tar tf onlyfruit.tar.gz 
fruit/
fruit/peach/
fruit/apple/
fruit/banana/

Answer 2

use the --exclude=directory flag. Works like a charm.