Specify a file name that starts with hyphen, e.g. "-i"

rm -- -i
If you just try rm -i, the file name will be interpreted as a command line switch. Many commands let you use a double hyphen '--' to say 'No more switches, the rest are file names'. Incidentally having a file named '-i' in a directory where you use rm * will cause rm to act as if you specified '-i' on the command line. vim -- -v touch -- -t cat -- -c

0
By: merlinblack
2011-07-26 04:00:32
rm
0
Submit An Alternative

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

You must be signed in to comment.

What's this?

commandlinefu.com is the place to record those command-line gems that you return to again and again. That way others can gain from your CLI wisdom and you from theirs too. All commands can be commented on, discussed and voted up or down.

Share Your Commands

Similar Commands

Rename files that have number, space and hyphen

Pipe STDOUT to vim

launch bash without using any letters

Prints a file leaving out all blank lines and comment-only lines

Stay in the loop…

Follow the Tweets.

Every new command is wrapped in a tweet and posted to Twitter. Following the stream is a great way of staying abreast of the latest commands. For the more discerning, there are Twitter accounts for commands that get a minimum of 3 and 10 votes - that way only the great commands get tweeted.

» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu3
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu10

Subscribe to the feeds.

Use your favourite RSS aggregator to stay in touch with the latest commands. There are feeds mirroring the 3 Twitter streams as well as for virtually every other subset (users, tags, functions,…):

Subscribe to the feed for: