Can't remove a file under home/user location #filename#

ansz · 05-29-2017, 05:32 PM

Hello,

I'm new to Linux and I'm trying to remove a file under home/user location. The file appears as #filename#

I don't know how the file appeared here. I have another file in the same location with a similar description but not in between ##.

Thank you!

BW-userx · 05-29-2017, 05:46 PM

did you try opening a file manger and right clicking on it then selecting delete? (or move to trash)

hydrurga · 05-29-2017, 05:46 PM

What is the name of the file? That way we can determine how it ended up there before you delete it.

You should be able to delete it with:

Code:

rm '#filename#'

but it would be useful first to find out if it is open under a running process.

ansz · 05-29-2017, 06:05 PM

Why did this happen? The file created in between ##?

I tried first with

rm -rf \#filename#

and it worked.

Thanks for your suggestion anyway. Could you explain more specifically your suggestion?

Thanks in advanced.

BW-userx · 05-29-2017, 06:09 PM

I find strange files in my home as well. little dust bunnies they are. Usually it is because of another app/program that creates them. I usually open them up to see if it will give me more information.

hydrurga · 05-29-2017, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ansz

Why did this happen?

What was the name of the file?

hydrurga · 05-29-2017, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ansz

Could you explain more specifically your suggestion?

If it was my suggestion that you're referring to, the single quotes stop the shell interpreting the # symbol.

ansz · 05-29-2017, 06:23 PM

The file name was

salsichas

Perhaps I had a space before...
This file was edited with nano, vi and emacs, and since I'm new to this I might have done something wrong.

hydrurga · 05-29-2017, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ansz

The file name was

salsichas

Perhaps I had a space before...
This file was edited with nano, vi and emacs, and since I'm new to this I might have done something wrong.

Bingo. It was an emacs autosave file:

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoSave

http://snarfed.org/gnu_emacs_backup_files