Remember our discussion on creating a file called -Rf in / and running
an rm * on /
Well DO Not DO it!
(This happened in Busket in REAL life not on the list)
As expected the shell expands * to all the file names and passes these
as
parameters to rm which interprets -Rf as an option not a filename!!.
I tried it on a test directory in /tmp for those of you wondering.
The shell will just run rm -Rf ./a ./b ./c etc.
Of course if you do end up with a file called -Rf the way to remove it
is rm -- -Rf
The -- option means "Options end Here, the rest are filenames".
If you were wondering how to create a file called -Rf its simple
touch also takes the -- option, as do a few other standard commands.
I remembered to test this out while reading a /. article on raid
and someone said that to avoid silly rm -Rf * accidents he
is in the habit of doing a touch -- -i in important directories.
What good is a raid if you cannot tell your * s form your -- s?
Philip
--
Philip Serracino Inglott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.inkwina.net/
--
Dungeons and Dragons is just a lot of Saxon Violence.
