Deleting file named *


 
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# 1  
Old 07-24-2013
Deleting file named *

Hi, There is a file by name '*' in a hp-ux box. How can i delete the same?

Code:
-rw-r--r--   1 wleadm     dba           1531 Jul 24 08:49 *

need to delete this file named * without deleting any other file. Please help.
# 2  
Old 07-24-2013
Escape the character to prevent shell interpolation
Code:
rm \*

# 3  
Old 07-24-2013
Try the following.


Code:
-rw-r--r--    1 singh users             0 Jul 24 11:18 *
$
$ rm "*"


Thanks,
R. Singh
# 4  
Old 07-24-2013
Another option is deleting using inode

Get the inode:
Code:
ls -il
 12048 -rw-rw-r--   1 yoda     xxxx             0 Jul 24 10:24 *
 12034 drwxrwxr-x   2 yoda     xxxx            96 Jul 24 10:24 ./
   435 drwxr-xr-x  21 yoda     xxxx          8192 Jul 24 10:24 ../

Remove using inode:
Code:
find . -inum 12048 -exec rm -f '{}' +

# 5  
Old 07-24-2013
In bash, for example
Code:
set -f

turns off globbing - the file-matching operation bash performs on metacharacters like * and ?

Code:
# remove a file named *
set -f
rm *
set +f

BTW - file names like * can screw up backup shell scripts and all sorts of other utilities. They are bad news.
This User Gave Thanks to jim mcnamara For This Post:
# 6  
Old 07-24-2013
Thanks Jim for great command. It really helps.
# 7  
Old 07-24-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by jim mcnamara
In bash, for example
Code:
set -f

turns off globbing - the file-matching operation bash performs on metacharacters like * and ?
For anyone bemoaning that their shell is not bash, set -f and set -o noglob (and their + counterparts) are part of POSIX sh, and are supported by at least ash, bash, busybox, dash, mksh, ksh, and pdksh.

Regards,
Alister
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