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From: ebh@argon.UUCP (Ed Horch)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: Problem removing a file
Message-ID: <479@argon.UUCP>
Date: 4 Feb 89 04:52:56 GMT
References: <695@flatline.UUCP> <102@keysec.UUCP> <154@conrad.UUCP>
Reply-To: ebh@argon.UUCP (Ed Horch)
Distribution: usa
Organization: No Name Lasers, Highland Park, NJ
Lines: 20

In article <154@conrad.UUCP> sac@conrad.UUCP (Steven A. Conrad) writes:
>Frequently the easiest way is to use the wild character symbol '?'
>in place of any nonprinting characters or characters which would
>otherwise prevent the command from being carried out.

That won't work if you're trying to remove a file named "-ef", for the
same reason that using * doesn't work.  It's the shell that does the
expansion of wild cards, not the rm command itself.  So, if you
specify the file "-ef" as "?ef", the rm command is invoked by the
shell as "rm -ef" after all.  You have to use one of the other tricks
that have been posted here, and also posted in the "Frequently Asked
Questions" article in news.announce.newusers.  To summarize:

	rm ./-ef
	rm -- -ef
	mv -ef foo; rm foo
	cd ..; rm -r directory
	etc.

-Ed