Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!hp4nl!dutrun!hans
From: hans@duttnph.UUCP (Hans Buurman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Ghost file
Message-ID: <550@dutrun.UUCP>
Date: 24 Nov 88 08:12:59 GMT
References: <17529@adm.BRL.MIL> <8430@alice.UUCP> <169@pinn.UUCP> <303@bilver.UUCP> <489@auspex.UUCP>
Sender: tnphnws@dutrun.UUCP
Reply-To: hans@duttnph.UUCP (Hans Buurman)
Organization: Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Lines: 24


I made a file called "" the other day. That's "\0" in C, an empty string.
(I was abusing elm). Although one could delete it using "rm -i *", there
was no way to read the file. ls told me the file "?" was a plain file.
Cat failed, more and file told me "" was a directory. I couldn't mv, ln or
ln -s the file, etc.

As I really wanted to read the file, I became super user and tried:
link "" foo, and had to reboot the system because it was hanging. Angrily,
I deleted the file.

So now I am wondering: could I have read the file in any way ?
This was on a Sun4 running SunOs 3.2.

	Hans

Disclaimer: any opinions expressed above are my own.
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Hans Buurman                   | hans@duttnph.UUCP
Pattern Recognition Group      | mcvax!dutrun!duttnph!hans
Faculty of Applied Physics     | tel. 31 - (0) 15 - 78 46 94
Delft University of Technology |
the Netherlands                |
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