[SOLVED] How to delete a file who's name starts with a space via CLI

anon091 · 12-18-2009, 09:10 AM

I have a file that when I do a ls -l it shows it as having a space as the first character in its name. how can I do a rm on just that one file? i'm not having any luck due to that space to start the file name.

thorkelljarl · 12-18-2009, 09:17 AM

What about...

Have you tried the wildcard "?" to replace the blank space?

If so, what else have you tried and what results did you get? Have you tried to quote the file name?

anon091 · 12-18-2009, 09:20 AM

That worked, thanks. is the ? just for a single character wildcard?

paulsm4 · 12-18-2009, 09:28 AM

Hi -

Code:

# EXAMPLE:
% ls -l
-rw-r--r--    1 paulsm   users           0 Dec 18 08:34  has a space
-rw-r--r--    1 paulsm   users           0 Dec 18 08:36 another_file
-rw-r--r--    1 paulsm   users           0 Dec 18 08:36 some_file

# Use a wildcard.
# Be sure to check your wildcard syntax with an "ls" 
# before you actually delete anything!
% ls -l ?has*
-rw-r--r--    1 paulsm   users           0 Dec 18 08:34  has a space

# If the wildcard deletes what you want - and ONLY what you want - go for it!
% rm ?has*

'Hope that helps .. PSM

thorkelljarl · 12-18-2009, 09:29 AM

That was easy...

"?" is for one character. Read and learn more.

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/wildcards.html

anon091 · 12-18-2009, 09:34 AM

Thanks to you both.