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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mcgill-vision!mouse
From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: command line options
Message-ID: <1073@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: 23 Apr 88 07:46:08 GMT
References: <2414@zyx.UUCP> <8039@elsie.UUCP> <7628@brl-smoke.ARPA> <143@gsg.UUCP> <4751@chinet.UUCP>
Organization: McGill University, Montreal
Lines: 23

In article <4751@chinet.UUCP>, les@chinet.UUCP (Leslie Mikesell) writes:
> In article <864@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
>> a time-honoured hack for protecting important directories, some
>> people create an empty file called "-i", so that an
>>	rm *
>> command will turn into
>>	rm -i {everything else}
>> So files matching "-?" are quite likely to exist.

(and hope there are no files beginning with control characters or
space-through-comma! :-)

> If a person knows enough about shell behaviour to create such a hack
> he should also know enough to quote the "-?" to prevent expansion.

You don't get the point.  The -i file is created by the one who knows,
to protect the directory against "rm *" issued by one who doesn't.
That is, files matching -? are likely to exist in directories where
novices are assumed to be issuing commands.

					der Mouse

			uucp: mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp
			arpa: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu