okay, i had to develop it even more

files/archive_subfolders

@@ -2,32 +2,56 @@
 
 
 function helpexit() {
+    BS=$( basename "$0" )
     echo Archive the subfolders of the current directory
-    echo "  -z  Compress. If not passed, will ask after tar archive"
+    echo "Usage: $BS [-z/-n] [folder name(s)]"
-    echo "  -n  No compression. Exit after tar archive"
+    echo "  -z  Compress. If not given, will ask action after archiving"
+    echo "  -n  No compression. Exit after TARchive"
+    echo "  folder name: If given, archive only the named folder(s)."
+    echo "               If not, for loop over all folders in the current directory."
+    
     exit
 }
 function listfolders() {
-   find "$1" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | sort | tr '\n' '\000'
+   find "$@" -mindepth $DEPTH -maxdepth $DEPTH -type d | sort | tr '\n' '\000'
 }
 function fsize() {
     echo -en "\e[2K\r"
     [[ -z "$2" ]] || printf "%s -> " "$2"
     printf "%s %s" "$( timeout 1 fastdu -h "$1" )" "$1"
 }
+function killtrap() {
+    kill "$PID" &>/dev/null
+}
 
-[[ "$1" = "-h" ]] && helpexit
+DEPTH=1
-
+FOLDERS=( )
+for ((i=1; i<=${#@}; i++)) {
+    [[ "${!i}" = "-h" ]] && helpexit
+    [[ "${!i}" = "--help" ]] && helpexit
+    [[ "${!i}" = "-n" ]] && { NOCOMPRESSION=1; continue; }
+    [[ "${!i}" = "-z" ]] && { COMPRESSION=1; continue; }
+    FOLDERS+=( "${!i%/}" )
+    DEPTH=0
+}
+[[ ${#FOLDERS[@]} -eq 0 ]] && FOLDERS+=( "." )
 echo 'Existing files will be overwritten!'
-echo Archive the following folders:
+echo -n "Archive the following folders "
-
+[[ "$NOCOMPRESSION" -eq 1 ]] && { 
-listfolders . | tr "[:cntrl:]" " "
+    echo -n without compression; 
-echo ''
+} || { 
+    [[ "$COMPRESSION" -eq 1 ]] && echo -n with gzip compression
+}
+echo ':'
+echo -n "'"
+listfolders "${FOLDERS[@]}" | sed -e "s/\x0/' '/g" -e "s,..$,,"
+echo ""
 echo '<ctrl-c> to quit'
 read foo
 read -a SLEEPS <<< "0.1 0.5 1 2 3 4 5"
+trap killtrap 9 15
 
-listfolders . | while read -r -d "" d; do
+listfolders "${FOLDERS[@]}" | while read -r -d "" d; do
   printf "%s" $d
   tar cvvf "$d.tar" "$d" > "$d.tar.lst" &
   PID=$!
@@ -35,6 +59,7 @@ listfolders . | while read -r -d "" d; do
   DUPID=$!
   while kill -0 "$PID" &>/dev/null; do
     [[ -f "$d.tar" ]] && fsize "$d.tar" "$DU"
+    [[ -f "$d.tar" ]] || { sleep 2; continue; }
     for i in ${SLEEPS[@]}; do
         sleep $i; kill -0 "$PID" &>/dev/null || break 2
         printf .
@@ -45,20 +70,24 @@ listfolders . | while read -r -d "" d; do
   kill -0 "$DUPID" &>/dev/null || kill "$DUPID" &>/dev/null
   echo ''
 done
-[[ "$1" = "-n" ]] && {
+trap - 9 15
+[[ "$NOCOMPRESSION" -eq 1 ]] && {
     exit
 }
-[[ "$1" = "-z" ]] || {
+[[ "$COMPRESSION" -eq 1 ]] || {
     echo 'Proceed to compress? <ctrl-c> to quit'
     read foo
 }
 echo 'Compressing..'
 read -a SLEEPS <<< "0.1 0.5 1 2 3 4 5"
-listfolders . | while read -r -d "" d; do
+trap killtrap 9 15
+
+listfolders "${FOLDERS[@]}" | while read -r -d "" d; do
   DU=$( fastdu -h "$d.tar" )
   gzip -f "$d.tar" &
   PID=$!
   while kill -0 "$PID" >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+    sleep 0.1
     [[ -f "$d.tar.gz" ]] && fsize "$d.tar.gz" "$DU"
     for i in ${SLEEPS[@]}; do
         sleep $i; kill -0 "$PID" &>/dev/null || break 2