Ok, you're not allowed to ask why I did it but I created two
files, one named <twit and the other >twit.  When I try to
delete them or rename them I'm greeted with, "No such file or
directory".  Bummer.  How do I get rid of them?

35 responses total.

Would it be possible to move the other files in the directory somewhere
else and then delete the whole directory?  I haven't tried this, but it
might work.  An other thing that occurred to me is to put the filenames in
quotes.  If that works it would be much simpler.

(She's dividing us into those lower than a twit, and higher than a twit.)

This probably won't work, since you'll have tried it already, but I'd expect
one of the following two methods to do it:
rm ?twit
rm -i *     (and then don't confirm anything but the ones you want).

There's probably something simple I'm overlooking.

Well, I tested creating & removing files with those names, & had no trouble.
Both    rm ?twit      and Steve's suggestion of    rm '>twit' '<twit'
seemed to work fine.  (Note: I use sh; if you're using csh or something else
& these methods don't work, try running sh & issuing such commands there.)

Obviously,     rm <twit    won't work, since that's trying to run rm with
input from the nonexistent file twit.  I suspect that's what you tried, but
I don't know.

They are gone.  I used the "rm ?twit" command and it worked
just fine.  Thanks for the help.

I guess I should count my blessings I didn't name that file
what originally sprang to mind.  This is a family system and all. ;-)

It is often quite easy to create files with special characters in them via
programs that open files (since it's the shells that interpret characters
such as * and ? and > and <).  And even with the shell it's all too easy to
create files containing such characters in their names:

   $ >test?
   $ ls -l test?
   -rw-r--r--  1 davel           0 Dec  1 11:05 test?
   $ >test*
   $ ls -l test?
   -rw-r--r--  1 davel           0 Dec  1 11:06 test*
   -rw-r--r--  1 davel           0 Dec  1 11:05 test?
   $ rm -i test?
   rm: remove test*? y
   rm: remove test?? y
   $ 

Note that in the first line the ? is interpreted as just another filename
character; everywhere else that I typed it, it's interpreted by sh as a
template character and matched.

This response has been erased.

Speaking of indestructible files, I acidentially saved a game as !saved on
/u/vidar and have not been able to get rid of it.

This response has been erased.

I'm no UNIX wizard, but wouldn't the backslash character be useful in these
situations?

It often is -- to the shell, the backslash quotes the immediately
following character.  So

        rm \>twit

would probably work.

Consider this question though:  Suppose that somehow you managed to
create a file named "-i".  How would you delete it?

(If you know the answer, should you say?)

rm ./-i works just fine

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<evil grin>

How? How?

By manipulating my mouth, stupid.

!twit vidar

how? how?

I thought this item was about Indestructabile files.
I cannot manage to destroy my registration in the Language conference.

every time I "rm .langl.cf" grex tells me that there is no such file
or directory!  Help!  I beseech thee...

hmm, but shouldn't it be a "rm .lang1.cf" and not "rm langl.cf"?
the difference being that its a 1 and not an l?

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*RE: 11:*]

how? how?

rm -i ./-i     or    rm -i -- -i    should do it.

The form with -- works with programs conforming to current standards, which
excludes a *lot* of stuff, but worked with rm on grex last time I tried it.
The other one should work more widely.  (Note that Kent *did* give it in
#13, Carson.)

Mea culpa. I was confused by response 14 and the lack of responses afterwards.

I'll have to go try it out now!

By the way, is there an actual rm-file I can invoke to get around
having aliased it to 'rm -i'?

Well, you can either type "/bin/rm" that forces the shell to use the
actual binarie and bypasses the alias, or you can remove the alias with
"unalias rm".

Also, if you put a backslash before any command, it turns off
the aliasing, i.e. "\rm filename"

Using the 1 helped me destory registration.

How do I change the name of a file already existing in my directory?
(thanks)

        mv filename newfilename

mv for "move", you can also use it to move a file to a new
directory.

You may want to be aware of the   -i   option on mv.  This prevents your
unwittingly deleting an existing file of the same name.  (You get your chance
to say yes, you *do* want to delete it.)

Trailing spaces are always good for a laugh.
Also files that say: cat: cannot open <filename>

Put the whole filename in quotes.

Given that the item was posted almost 10 years ago, I suspect that
the problem has been dealt with by now.

Heh; that's a fairly common occurance on grex, or so it seems.  btw-
I was mildly surprised that no one mentioned rm - -i.  Before ``--''
became widespread as a means to stop argument processoring, rm was
blessed by recognizing a single - as a special case to aid in removing
files that start with `-'.

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