Copying files with special characters

cornish · 12-20-2007, 03:45 AM

I need to copy a file from a mounted windows share to a linux share but unfortunately it contains a special character which is a single quote '

I cant list, file or stat it as bash tells me No Such File or Directory.

When you try to copy the file it then says it cannot open the file.

Is there a magic way around this?

I'm not allowed to rename the file either.

colucix · 12-20-2007, 04:02 AM

If you work on the linux side, you can try to escape the quote using a backslash

Code:

cp /path/to/my\'file /path/to/file

cornish · 12-20-2007, 04:09 AM

No joy mate the file is m'ap 1.jpg

anything I do expectes another ' to finish the command

colucix · 12-20-2007, 04:29 AM

If you try to use <TAB> for name completion, which is the resulting string?

Code:

cp m<TAB>

press <TAB> twice if the directory contains other files beginning by m.

pwc101 · 12-20-2007, 04:45 AM

You should also be able to enclose the filename in double quotes:

Code:

cp "m'ap 1.jpg" ~

cornish · 12-20-2007, 07:25 AM

can you create a file on your PC and try it, I just get can not open the file.

colucix · 12-20-2007, 08:28 AM

I can create and manage the file, either escaping the quote and the blank space or enclosing with double quotes - as suggested by pwc101. Can you paste and copy the commands you're issuing and the exact messages you get? Please, use the CODE tag to wrap the code, so preserving spaces.

cornish · 12-20-2007, 09:12 AM

cp M\'ap* /home/mark/test
cp: cannot open `M\'ap 1.jpg' for reading: No such file or directory

colucix · 12-20-2007, 11:49 AM

Hmmm... can you copy other files from the same directory? I suspect a problem related to how the windows filesystem is mounted. Anyway, sometimes it can be useful to specify the path, as in

Code:

cp ./M\'ap\ 1.jpg /home/mark/test

to force the correct behavior of the shell. Another test can be

Code:

find . -name "M'ap*" -print0 | xargs -0tp -I '{}' cp '{}' /home/mark/test

if this does not work you have to investigate about permissions and mount options.

chrism01 · 12-20-2007, 05:57 PM

This worked for me:

cp m\'ap\ 1.jpg t.jpg

ie explicitly escape both the ' and the space

colucix · 12-21-2007, 04:26 AM

Chris, it worked great for me, too. But there must be something weird in the OP's issue, because the error message does not imply it cannot see the file, otherwise the error would be

Code:

cp: cannot stat `somefile': No such file or directory

and not

Code:

cp: cannot open `M\'ap 1.jpg' for reading: No such file or directory

I am puzzled about this.

cornish · 12-21-2007, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

This worked for me:

cp m\'ap\ 1.jpg t.jpg

ie explicitly escape both the ' and the space

I tried the above and this is what I get

cp: cannot stat `M\'ap 1.jpg': No such file or directory

I did mention that this was on a windows share??

colucix · 12-21-2007, 09:49 AM

What do you get exactly when doing

Code:

ls -l

inside the directory which contains the file? Please, when posting output or error messages go in Advanced Mode and wrap text around the CODE tag (select text and press the # button). This improves readibility and avoids misunderstanding with spaces, tabs and special characters. Thanks.

ghostdog74 · 12-21-2007, 11:22 AM

what happens when you try

Code:

cp  /path/m*.jpg  /destination