I am trying to create files with special characters in its filenames for testing purposes. This is on a Linux RHEL4 but this should also be applicable on a Unix shell.

I am able to create files with special characters in the filenames...e.g.

cp -pv foo.gif \*special.gif
cp -pv foo.gif \ blank.space.start.gif

I cannot create this filename:

-special.filename.txt

The cp or mv command thinks that the '-' character specifies a flag.

I've tried the following commands:

cp -pv foo.bar \-special.txt (this results in a filename of '\-special.txt')
cp -pv foo.bar '-special.txt' (cp thinks '-special.txt' is an invalid option)
cp -pv foo.bar '\-special.txt' (the result is the same as \-special.txt)

This might be a simple question but does anyone know how to create a file, either by cp or mv, with a filename that has the dash '-' character as the first character in the filename?