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If you need a full listing of all the files in a folder saved to a file then use the following from a shell:

'ls' > file_list.txt

NOTE: In this case the file_list.txt file will be listed in the file_list.txt file, and to avoid this, just save the file_list.txt file to a different location than you are running the ‘ls’ command in.

If you need to backup a folder with symlinks and keep them intact use the following from the shell:

tar -csf folder.tar /folder/location/with/symlinks/