Hi James, > > tar c $(find / -name \*.conf) | ssh host.com "gzip -c > file.tar.gz" > > Thank you very much, this worked. I have two supplementary > questions. First, what is the significance of the $() construct in > bash and how does it interact with tar? Does it take the place of > standard input based on its position in the utility call? In this command, the $() construct is used to return files via find to the command line for tar. It's most often used to assign variables with the value of returned commands. ie FOO=$(netstat), where by $FOO is now assigned the output of netstat. Since this is a remote command, it's neccessary to do it this way. If you were running this locally only, these two commands would be identical: tar -cvf foobar.tar `find / -name \*.conf` tar -cvf foobar.tar $(find / -name \*.conf) > Second, is there a way to exclude certain file names from matching > that otherwise do? I have tried: > > $(find / -name /*.conf && !*.so.conf) There sure is, but try something like this instead: tar c $(find / -name \*.conf -not -name \*.so.conf) | ssh host.com "gzip -c > file.tar.gz" Cheers, -Joshua