trying to remove a file name \

jlarsen · 12-08-2009, 10:38 AM

I'm not sure how it got there, but a have a zero byte file that is bugging me:

-rw-r--r-- 1 someuser users 0 2009-12-07 11:35 \

This is a remote machine. If need be I'll install a VNC server on it and try KDE - but this is becoming a matter of curiosity now.

Here is what I have tried so far:

Code:

rm ./\
rm -- \
rm \\
rm '\'

- by the way touch '\' creates a file named \\

From what I read rm '\' seems like it should have worked but no luck. From the bash manual at gnu.org:

Quote:

3.1.2.1 Escape Character

A non-quoted backslash ‘\’ is the Bash escape character. It preserves the literal value of the next character that follows, with the exception of newline. If a \newline pair appears, and the backslash itself is not quoted, the \newline is treated as a line continuation (that is, it is removed from the input stream and effectively ignored).

3.1.2.2 Single Quotes

Enclosing characters in single quotes (‘'’) preserves the literal value of each character within the quotes. A single quote may not occur between single quotes, even when preceded by a backslash.

There must be simple solution to this one, but I can't seem to find it.
Thanks in advance.......

pljvaldez · 12-08-2009, 11:00 AM

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/delete...de-number.html

pixellany · 12-08-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

- by the way touch '\' creates a file named \\

Not here.....

Starting with an empty folder:

Code:

[mherring@mystical play]$ touch \   ##the single \ is escaping the newline, so the shell simply waits for more input
> ^C
[mherring@mystical play]$ ls
[mherring@mystical play]$ touch \\    ##as you mention, this give the literal \
[mherring@mystical play]$ ls
\
[mherring@mystical play]$ rm \\
[mherring@mystical play]$ ls
[mherring@mystical play]$

rn_ · 12-08-2009, 11:01 AM

try: rm ./\\

jlarsen · 12-08-2009, 11:48 AM

@pixellany - you missed the single quotes - or maybe I should have used code tags to be more clear:

Code:

jeremy@testserver:~/testdir$ touch '\'
jeremy@testserver:~/testdir$ ls -l
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 jeremy users 0 2009-12-08 11:30 \\

pljvaldez seems to have hit the mark with the delete by inode solution. See below:

Code:

ls -il
total 276
394562 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root     0 2009-12-07 11:35 \

root@someserver:~# find . -inum 394562 -exec rm -i {} \;
rm: remove regular empty file `./ '? y

after which the file is gone. Interesting how it displays the empty file name.......

sandmangnome · 12-08-2009, 01:09 PM

I think you might have had a <space> character in the filename that shows up as \<space> on the terminal

jlarsen · 12-08-2009, 01:41 PM

Yeah, you are right! Proved it with a quick experiment:

Code:

root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# touch ' '
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# v
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2009-12-08 13:42 \
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# rm ' '
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# v
total 0
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir#

Valery Reznic · 12-09-2009, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlarsen

Yeah, you are right! Proved it with a quick experiment:

Code:

root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# touch ' '
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# v
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2009-12-08 13:42 \
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# rm ' '
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir# v
total 0
root@testserver:/home/jeremy/testdir#

Another option:

Code:

rm -i ?