Removing a directory beginning with a minus sign.

harry edwards · 03-01-2008, 04:53 PM

Leap year got me!

Some buggy software has managed to create the following folders:

drwxr-xr-x 2 bian users 8496 Mar 1 04:03 -2606
drwxr-xr-x 2 bian users 8496 Mar 1 04:00 -2700
drwxr-xr-x 2 bian users 8496 Mar 1 04:00 -2706
drwxr-xr-x 2 bian users 5168 Mar 1 04:00 -2712

I've tried to remove them but can't!

rm -rf "-2606/"
rm: invalid option -- 2

rm -rf '-2606/'
rm: invalid option -- 2

What am I doing wrong?

P.S I am using Suse 8

jailbait · 03-01-2008, 05:10 PM

Try deleting them in Nautilus or Konqueror.

--------------------
Steve Stites

anomie · 03-01-2008, 05:22 PM

This has come up on the forums before. Do this: rm -rf ./-blah

harry edwards · 03-01-2008, 05:29 PM

Thank you. Worked a treat!

gilead · 03-01-2008, 05:44 PM

Glad you got it working - this is just extra info...

Several commands support using "--" to separate options and arguments. In this case you could also have used:

Code:

rm -rf -- -2606