I'm trying to delete a file with a weird name from within Terminal on a Mac.
It's a very old file (1992) with null characters in the name: ␀␀Word Finder® Plus™.
Have you tried the GUI dragging the file to the 'Trash' from within Finder, then clearing the Trash?
How about using single quotes instead of double?
How about mv '␀␀Word Finder® Plus™' /tmp/testname in single quotes and let the system remove it during reboot.
Are all the relevant permissions set for YOU to read and write from and to the file?
Remember any of these could cause problems so be very aware.
And finally are you absolutely sure you have the FULL filename and not missing, say, trailing spaces(s)?
That is all I can think of so far...
FWIW, I would solve this by doing exactly what MadeInGermany suggests in post#3 (unless there are so many files in the directory that you would be there all day to do it).
Thanks so much for the prompt ideas. Unfortunately, none have succeeded. I've repeated tried to delete by dragging and always get "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)." The file is in a folder by itself that I've tried to delete the entire folder, but that won't work either.
Latest attempts:
Single quotes
Code:
12FX009:5 dpontius$ rm '␀␀Word Finder® Plus™'
rm: ␀␀Word Finder® Plus™: Invalid argument
rename with testname in tmp folder:
12FX009:5 dpontius$ mv '␀␀Word Finder® Plus™' /tmp/testname
mv: rename ␀␀Word Finder® Plus™ to /tmp/testname: Invalid argument
Permissions look fine:
12FX009:5 dpontius$ ls -l
total 48
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 dpontius staff 0 Feb 27 1992 ␀␀Word Finder® Plus™
Delete with wildcards:
12FX009:5 dpontius$ rm -i ./*Word*
remove ./␀␀Word Finder® Plus™? y
rm: ./␀␀Word Finder® Plus™: Invalid argument
Throughout, the little bugger is still there. No trailing spaces present. I find it interesting to see the unicode characters wisecracker revealed. Does anyone know how to use that information to identify a file to delete?
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07-18-2019
