Script to Backup Files and Directory

What does the shebang (#!) at the beginning of the script do?

The shebang specifies the interpreter (shell) to execute the script. Wet allows the script to be run as a normal Unix command.

Can We back up multiple directories using this script?

Yes! Modify the backup_files variable to include additional directories we want to back up.

How can We automate backups using cron?

Edit our crontab (sudo crontab -e) and add an entry to specify when the backup script should run. For example, to run the script daily at midnight:

0 0 * * * /path/to/automate.sh

Can We add the name of file to backup when running the script rather than within script ?

Yes! we can change the backup variable used in tar utility with $1 and remove the backup variable declaration within the script and update the script.

Backing up our important files and directories is crucial to safeguarding our data. In this article, we’ll create a simple shell script that uses the tar utility to create an archive file for backup purposes that we can use whenever we require. The shell script we’ll build allows us to specify which directories to back up and where to store the backup. We’ll use the tar command to create an archive file containing the selected files and directories.