Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!petsd!pedsga!jeffj
From: jeffj@pedsga.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: Problem removing a file
Summary: use the secret `--' option
Message-ID: <791@pedsga.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jan 89 23:24:53 GMT
References: <695@flatline.UUCP> <589@icus.islp.ny.us>
Reply-To: jeffj@pedsga.UUCP (Jeff Jonas,TF,7)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp., Tinton Falls, N.J.
Lines: 14

In article <695@flatline.UUCP> erict@flatline.UUCP (j eric townsend) writes:
|>Ok, I've really done it now.  I've created, in my home directory,
|>a file by the name of:
|>-ef
|>rm: illegal option -- e
|>usage: rm [-fir] file ...

The recent versions of rm (and all programs that take options)
use getopt(3) to parse the argument line.
Both the SVID and the programmer's manual mention that `--' is used
to terminate options to allow arguments beginning with `-', so
	rm -- -ef
should work.  If my suggestion was taken, the SVR4.0 manual should
have this as an example in the rm(1) man page.