On Tue, Jan 22, 2008 at 11:46:57AM -0500, Eric B. enlightened us: > I've got an odd situation here. Somehow, I find myself with two files that > start with the - character. > [eric at apollo mysql]$ ls -l > total 93348 > -rw-r--r-- 1 mysql mysql 9273344 Nov 13 19:03 -N=2007-11-08 > -rw-r--r-- 1 mysql mysql 38879232 Nov 13 19:02 --newer=2007-11-08 > > > Don't ask how they were created; something went wrong with a script at some > point. > > My problem is that I am trying to delete them, but can't figure out how to > delete these files. Everything I try, I get the same msg: > [eric at apollo mysql]$ rm '-N=2007-11-08' > rm: invalid option -- N > Try `rm --help' for more information. > > > I have tried single quotes, double quotes, escaping it with a \ and still > get the same error. > > Any ideas / suggestions? > rm -- -N=2007-11-08 The -- tells (most?) programs to stop processing options. This is listed as an example in the rm man page, so you should know that, right? I mean, you *did* read the man page.... Matt -- Matt Hyclak Department of Mathematics Department of Social Work Ohio University (740) 593-1263