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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!news-in2.uu.net!nwnews.wa.com!usenet From: "Duane H. Hesser" <dhh@androcles.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: dummy question Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 15:09:21 -0700 Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. Lines: 38 Message-ID: <32601711.41C67EA6@androcles.com> References: <53mfdu$1iv@wa4phy.async.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: androcles.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (X11; I; FreeBSD 2.1.0-RELEASE i386) S.W. Drinkard wrote: > > Ok, I'm not exactly a newbie, but I created a file with a filename of > "--remove-files" due to a blunder of the fingers. SysV would let me > remove it in quotes, or by matching a wildcard patern. I tried every > combination of rm/mv/whatever short of the 45-cal pistol. How does > *bsd do it? > > sheepishly, > > -sam- > > -- > World Traveler | International Lover | Casual Hero > Wars Fought | Opressor of Champions | Revolutions Started > Aligators Castrated | Virgins Converted | Governments Run The simplest (but slightly dangerous) way to remove such file is using the '-i' (interctive) option to 'rm'. The command rm -i * will read the directory and present each name for confirmation before removal. You must answer 'y' to remove each item. Any other response leaves the file untouched. It is likely that your 'funny file' will be presented first; if not, just type returns until it is. You can, of course, just interrupt out after the file in question is removed. One word of warning. Some shells (e.g. zsh) will intercept the '*' and ask you if you really want to revove everything. NOTE that the shell will respond immediately to the next character typed (no return required). If you type 'y' <CR> the command (rm) will get the return and the first file presented will be skipped. Be careful. -- Duane H.Hesser dhh@androcles.com