Removing Files


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Removing Files
# 1  
Old 07-17-2001
Removing Files

I am trying to remove a file so that I can delete a directory. Unfortuantely the file looks like this --------.--- and the system is not allowing me to remove the file. System message is
rm: Error: Illegal option -- -
usage: rm [-fiRr] file...
I have tried rm * and rm *.* to no avail.
Any Suggestions?
# 2  
Old 07-17-2001
Try giving the entire path name... For example, to remove --------.--- in the /var/tmp/old directory, you would type:

rm /var/tmp/old/--------.---

If you prefer, you can add a "--" before the file, to tell rm that everything after this is to be taken literally:

cd /var/tmp/old
rm -- --------.---

If that doesn't work for some reason, try escaping the file:

cd /var/tmp/old
rm ./\--------.---

And if THAT doesn't work either, post back to let me know I'm mistaken Smilie
# 3  
Old 07-17-2001
If you are going to delete a directory you can use..

rm -r directoryname

then it deletes all files in the dir also..

caution though, there is no "are you sure" questions....
# 4  
Old 07-17-2001
I had to have a go at this, so I tried using "rm -riv [parentdir]"
It will descend and ask for confirmation before deletion of each file. I had no problems removing the testfile....

$ rm -riv test
rm: descend into directory `test'? y
removing all entries of directory test
rm: remove `test/foo'? n
rm: remove `test/foo1'? n
rm: remove `test/foo4'? n
rm: remove `test/foo2'? n
rm: remove `test/--------.---'? y
removing test/--------.---
rm: remove `test/foo3'? n
rm: remove directory `test' (might be nonempty)? n
$

HAHA, I just reread the original post, I though you just wanted to remove the file, and keep the rest of the directory..... still may come in handy for someone....
-gHoTi

Last edited by ghoti; 07-17-2001 at 01:18 PM..
# 5  
Old 07-17-2001
Perhaps you have to log in as the root.
# 6  
Old 07-17-2001
Response to Removing Files

Thanks so much for your responses, what a great board this is.
I took the easy way out and took nick30 advice and used 'rm -r filename', which worked a treat. Thanks for all your responses.Smilie
 
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Find and removing the old files and zipping the files using shell script

Hi, I am trying to removing the old files which were older than 10 days and same g zipping the files using the shell script. script was return as follows. find /jboss7_homes/JBOSS7/SKYLIV??/SKYLIV??_CRM/jboss-eap-7.0/standalone/log -mtime +10 -type f | xargs rm -f find /cer_skyliv??/log... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: venkat918
6 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Help in Removing the Old files

Hi Gurus, we are planning to clear the old log files based on the year and i need help on this and i searched in google and i came up with the scripts but i am stuck with this. (1) wroks fine How many files exist in based on the extension find -type f | sed -e 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: SeenuGuddu
1 Replies

3. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Removing files

How do you delete/remove multiple files ? (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: nosuchluck
5 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Help with removing files

i have a directory that have files that contains word "spam", how can i remove all those files which have word spam. This code help me in searching find ./ -type f -exec grep -l "spam" {} \; How i will add removing option with it. If some one have good suggestion regarding searching... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: learnbash
2 Replies

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Removing Files

Hi, This might seem like a really stupid question but i have created a shell script and at the end of the script i want to remove most of the file i create. So I have: rm file test sorted However this does not work for the sorted one. The only way i can get this to work is if i do: rm... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: jazz8146
4 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

removing old files except configuration files and folders

Dear all, I want to remove files older than 2 months in the /home/member directory. But except the configuration files (like .bash_profile .config/ .openoffice/ .local/ .kde/ etc..) I have tried with the command find . -mtime +60 -wholename './.*' -prune -o -print -exec mv {} \; but it... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: jamcalicut
1 Replies

7. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Removing files

Hi, It seems someone has created files instead of actually running the commands, as below: -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle92 dba 0 Mar 2 11:19 PRIML_070302.ok -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle92 dba 557 Mar 2 11:20 PRIVH_070302.dat -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle92 dba 0 Mar 12 11:57... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: LiquidChild
2 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

removing files

Hello all, I'd like to remove files which is returned by the following statement ls -l arch*.dbf|grep "`date|cut -c5-10`" (cut -c5-10 =Mar 20) To achive this,I tried the following statments but none worked .. rm < `ls -l arch*.dbf|grep "`date|cut -c5-10`"` rm `ls -l arch*.dbf|grep... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: luft
8 Replies

9. Solaris

Removing Files

Hi Everyone , have a nice day what will be the command to be given in certain directory which removes all those files present in that very directory which were last modified one month ago ? Regards and Waiting (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: Dastard
1 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Removing files

I have AIX 5.1 I was wondering how to remove a file name with a space in it Say {tb lsv.csv} ? When I use the {rm} command if you have a space it thinks it is a new file. So it looks for {tb} and {lsv.csv} instead of the name as a whole. Thanks in advance Dave By the way guys and gals the... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: rocker40
5 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question