> I've got a file named "-------Message". > > When i want to remove this file with the rm command like this : rm -------Message > or rm "-------Message" or rm '-------Message' or rm >\-\-\-\-\-\-\-Message
First off you are confusing shell quoting with command line options. Those two are not related in any way. Put that out of your head right now because it will only further confuse you with other commands. Use the 'echo' command to see what the 'rm' program is seeing. echo rm "-------Message" rm -------Message Quoting protects the contents of the string from the shell expanding any file wildcards (shell metacharacters). You don't have any there and therefore quoting won't do anything obvious. To see what quoting does look at the differences in these next two commands. echo "*" Versus: echo * > the command failed cause it thinks that -------Message is an option ! Command options start with a '-' and therefore -------Message looks like an option command. Therefore you must make the filename passed to the command not look like an option. Here is an FAQ entry on this topic. http://www.gnu.org/software/fileutils/doc/faq/core-utils-faq.html#How%20do%20I%20remove%20files%20that%20start%20with%20a%20'-'%20such%20as%20'-i'%3f > Could you tell me how i can remove this file ? The 'rm --help' messages from version 4.1 and later say this: To remove a file whose name starts with a `-', for example `-foo', use one of these commands: rm -- -foo rm ./-foo HTH Bob _______________________________________________ Bug-fileutils mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-fileutils
