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How to cat a file , name starts with "-" ?

 
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# 1  
Old 11-15-2003
How to cat a file , name starts with "-" ?
I have a question - beginning user, just learning unix.

I have a file that name starts with a hypen -, such as a name like :

-myfile (yes, I know shold not start files names like this, but this is the question I have to figure out, and its driving me nuts)

I know that this hyphen is like a special character.. right ? So how do I cat or more this file to see its contents when it is named like this ?

I've tried commenting the hyphen, such as :

cat '-'myfile and I have tried cat \-myfile with no success.

Advice appreciated.

::email removed::
Last edited by oombera; 02-19-2004 at 05:34 PM..
# 2  
Old 11-16-2003
Quote:
I have tried cat \-myfile with no success.
so you said that this is a question you have to figure out.... a HOMEWORK question? this is not allowed here! \-myfile...it looks like you tried to escape the '-'. your on the right track, why dont you try one more time.


/ EOF
# 3  
Old 11-16-2003
Hey,

You need to let cat know that you aren't trying to feed it a flag. This can be done by using --

$ cat -- \-filename

Cheers,
Keith
Last edited by kduffin; 11-17-2003 at 10:28 PM..
# 4  
Old 11-16-2003
Found answer, thanks for help
Thanks for the help on this. I finally found ( or stumbled across) the answer by looking in the "man rm" , where it says that following the rm command with the "--" means it treats what follows that as a filename, allowing the filename to start with the hyphen.

Is the hyphen a "special character " ? I don't see it listed as such in the lists of special characters.....???
# 5  
Old 11-16-2003
Not a special character per say, but it is what is used to identify option flags at the CLI. -- is used to denote an end of all option flags. Congrats on having found the answer yourself before hand. I have always found great satisfaction in problem solving and creative thinking. UNIX and other such appendages provide a good playground for such activities.

Cheers,
Keith
Last edited by kduffin; 11-17-2003 at 10:28 PM..
# 6  
Old 11-17-2003
Hi,

You can do cat ./-myfile as well.
# 7  
Old 11-17-2003
hehe i guess no one caught onto my hint...
 
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