03-07-2008
Special meaning characters in dir names
Hello,
I've had a daemon go a little bit mental and create directories using somments from a config file. The end result is I've ended up with directories with names such as #, 5625), (5725 etc etc etc...
However, when I try and delete them I get syntax errors, ( not expected,
rmdir #
Usage: rmdir [-p] DirectoryName...
etc...
Can I quote these to tell the shell to take them literally, as opposed to reading their special meanings? If not, any other suggestions on how to get rid of them?
Thanks,
John.
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LEARN ABOUT ULTRIX
tmpnam
tmpnam(3s) tmpnam(3s)
Name
tmpnam, tempnam - create a name for a temporary file
Syntax
#include <stdio.h>
char *tmpnam (s)
char *s;
char *tempnam (dir, pfx)
char *dir, *pfx;
Description
These functions generate file names that can safely be used for a temporary file.
The subroutine always generates a file name using the path-name defined as in the <stdio.h> header file. If s is NULL, leaves its result
in an internal static area and returns a pointer to that area. The next call to will destroy the contents of the area. If s is not NULL,
it is assumed to be the address of an array of at least bytes, where is a constant defined in <stdio.h>; places its result in that array
and returns s.
The subroutine allows the user to control the choice of a directory. The argument dir points to the path-name of the directory in which
the file is to be created. If dir is NULL or points to a string which is not a path-name for an appropriate directory, the path-name
defined as in the <stdio.h> header file is used. If that path-name is not accessible, will be used as a last resort. This entire sequence
can be up-staged by providing an environment variable TMPDIR in the user's environment, whose value is a path-name for the desired tempo-
rary-file directory.
Many applications prefer their temporary files to have certain favorite initial letter sequences in their names. Use the pfx argument for
this. This argument may be NULL or point to a string of up to five characters to be used as the first few characters of the temporary-file
name.
The subroutine uses to get space for the constructed file name, and returns a pointer to this area. Thus, any pointer value returned from
may serve as an argument to free. For further information, see If cannot return the expected result for any reason, that is failed, or
none of the above mentioned attempts to find an appropriate directory was successful, a NULL pointer will be returned. The and routines
generate a different file name each time they are called.
Files created using these functions and either or are temporary only in the sense that they reside in a directory intended for temporary
use, and their names are unique. It is the user's responsibility to use to remove the file when its use is ended.
Restrictions
If called more than 17,576 times in a single process, these functions will start recycling previously used names.
Between the time a file name is created and the file is opened, it is possible for some other process to create a file with the same name.
This can never happen if that other process is using these functions or and the file names are chosen so as to render duplication by other
means unlikely.
See Also
creat(2), unlink(2), fopen(3s), malloc(3), mktemp(3), tmpfile(3s)
tmpnam(3s)