I don't know how I've done this but I've created somehow a folder named "-p". Now I'm trying to delete it but my buntu is thinking I'm passing -p as a paremeter.
What can I do?
Ubuntu Server 15.
You can use -- to tell rm (and many other commands including many shell built-ins) not to interpret any further input as command parameters, so that -p can be interpreted correctly as an argument instead of an "unrecognised option"
rm -- -p
(This is also a good safety measure when globbing. You might have accidentally created a file called -rf...)
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3"You can use
--to tell bash not to interpret any further input as command parameters" — Isn't it actually tellingrmnot to interpret any further parameters as options? – Tanner Swett Nov 15 '16 at 0:43 -
--is interpreted byrm, notbash. And while there is a recommendation in the SUS for tools to accept this special separator, there is no requirement to do so, and not all of them do.ddis well known for having a radically different syntax from what we now consider to be "standard" syntax (i.e. GNUgetoptlong), for example. – Jörg W Mittag Nov 15 '16 at 0:58 -
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@Zanna thanks for the answer but as this is a duplicate question I'll flag to delete. – Magno C Nov 16 '16 at 12:47
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@MagnoC there's no need to delete - it's still a useful question/signpost. we don't delete dupes unless they are bad :) – Zanna♦ Nov 16 '16 at 12:48
the proper way in this case is :
rm ./-p
-- may work with some commands, and fail with others. it is not bash that interprets it, but each command separately (and some may not recognise -- as the end of options) (especially true if you ever use non gnu commands... for example if you work on some other OSs).
Taking the habit of saying ./somefileorglob instead of just somefileorglob is a good habit, in general.
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1Yes a very good habit. Plus you need
./to run a script in the current directory too. Whereas-- script-namedoesn't work. Plus--is a fringe thing hard to remember. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Nov 15 '16 at 3:03 -
As I can remember ( I'm at work now and the problem is at my home machine) I've already tried this and not worked. Including
rm -rf "./-p"(double quoted) – Magno C Nov 16 '16 at 12:36 -
@MagnoC: this is strange... maybe there are additionnal ("invisible") characters in that name? Try in that case first to :
ls -l ./*-*p* | cat -vemay help in most cases:-vwill make cat make some characters visible (^M, for example) and combined witheit will also mark the end of each lines with "$", which helps when the line has trailing spaces or tabs. This can help determine the name. or use "od" on the output. You can also use Tab completion:ls -ld ./-and press TAB to let bash complete the rest (or show a selection if there are several candidates). CAREFUL: Tab, not SPACE – Olivier Dulac Nov 16 '16 at 18:04
delete folder strangeversuscommands with dash parameter). – Magno C Nov 16 '16 at 12:44