[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Aaron Solochek) wrote: >Marshal Kar-Cheung Wong wrote: >> I was wondering how to remove a file by the name of --help.tgz? >> (Don't ask...Okay if you really must know, I typed in tgz --help and I >> get that file. There's no man page for tgz, and I think tgz shouldn't >> accept things starting with -- as file names...) rm always takes it >> as an option, even if quotes, double-quoted, backslashed, >> regular-expressioned. Any suggestions? > >On a similar note, avoid naming files -v or -r.... those are real >pains. A friend of mine had to write system code to delete them... If >he still has it sitting around, I'll pass it on.
In the light of the other easier solutions to this problem, *boggle* :) You can use the Perl unlink() function, though, if you're really desperate, but you don't need to. On a side note, the following, as root, is quite a useful trick: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]# cd / [EMAIL PROTECTED] /]# touch -- --version [EMAIL PROTECTED] /]# rm -rf * rm (GNU fileutils) 4.0o Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard Stallman, and Jim Meyering. Copyright (C) 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. [EMAIL PROTECTED] /]# ls --version dev info lost+found mnt root usr vmlinuz.old bin etc initrd mirrors net sbin var world boot home lib misc proc tmp vmlinuz [EMAIL PROTECTED] /]# (Not that I recommend actually trying the last command, but just touch the file called --version. :) If you must test it then do it in a scratch directory.) The idea of this is that 'rm -rf *' expands to 'rm -rf --version boot bin ...', and the --version there causes all the other arguments to be ignored and just version information to be displayed. Don't assume that you're invulnerable with this, though - 'rm -rf /' would still trash your filesystem, so still be careful as root. It's a useful safety net in case your brain-to-fingers connection slips a bit, though. -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
