tbetz@dasys1.uucp (Tom Betz) (06/15/90)
Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory.
total 206
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature
drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <-----
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/
You will note that there are two files with identical names.
I can view them using 'more' and they are indeed two different
files. I haven't done anything else with them yet (I'll 'cat'
them to another file if I can) but I can't figure out how this
can happen.
Ideas?
I swear that, other than shortening it, I have not modified this
listing in any way.
--
MY CURRENT FAVORITE ADVERTISING LINES: |Tom Betz
"Look what they done to old Duke... |ZCNY, Yonkers, NY 10701-2509
next year I'm growing corn." |UUCP: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP orjpr@dasys1.uucp (Jean-Pierre Radley) (06/15/90)
In article <1990Jun15.090604.21916@dasys1.uucp> tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz) writes: >Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory. > >total 206 >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature >drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/ >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <----- >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <----- >drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/ > >You will note that there are two files with identical names. > >I can view them using 'more' and they are indeed two different >files. I haven't done anything else with them yet (I'll 'cat' >them to another file if I can) but I can't figure out how this >can happen. Tom, have you considered the possibility that one or both of those filenames consider a non-printing character? Try 'hd', 'od', or 'vis' on $HOME/News, and then tell us if they're still twins or not. -- Jean-Pierre Radley jpr@jpradley New York, NY 72160.1341@compuserve.com
ronald@atcmp.nl (Ronald Pikkert) (06/15/90)
From article <1990Jun15.090604.21916@dasys1.uucp>, by tbetz@dasys1.uucp (Tom Betz): > Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory. > > total 206 > -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature > drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/ > -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <----- > -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <----- > drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/ > > > You will note that there are two files with identical names. > Run your ls output through od of use ls -lb to check for any invisable (but present) characters in the filenames. Are you sure that vi didn't warn about non-ascii characters in your ls file? - Ronald Pikkert E-mail: ronald@atcmp.nl @ AT Computing b.v. Tel: 080 - 566880 Toernooiveld 6525 ED Nijmegen
tih@barsoom.nhh.no (Tom Ivar Helbekkmo) (06/15/90)
Tom Betz asked about a problem he has, where it seems that two of his files have the exact same name. Since this is a situation that's easy to get into, but much harder to solve unless you know how, and since it can quickly lead to lost data, here's a somewhat verbose explanation: The problem is that one of your two files has a name that contains a non-printing character. This happens now and then... Here's an `ls -la` of a directory I just created to illustrate it: % ls -la total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 tih users 80 Jun 15 17:41 . drwxr-xr-x 3 tih users 704 Jun 15 17:41 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 tih users 21 Jun 15 17:40 Testfile -rw-r--r-- 1 tih users 42 Jun 15 17:41 Testfile % And here's the `od -c .` output showing what the directory entry actually contains (this is a System V directory, yours will look different if you're running BSD Unix): % od -c . 0000000 223 & . \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 0000020 270 017 . . \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 0000040 236 < T e s t f i l e \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 0000060 b B T e s t f i l e 004 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 % Notice the byte with the value 004 (or Ctrl-D) there? One file is actually named "Testfile", while the other one is called "Testfile^D"! This might happen, in some applications, if you start to type a filename, and then accidentally hit a non-printing character while doing it. (I did it by going into an editor, reading in Testfile, and then specifying Testfile^D when I wrote it back out.) To fix this one, without losing either file, I would do: % ls Testfile Testfile % mv Testfile File.1 % ls File.1 Testfile % mv Testfile* File.2 % ls File.1 File.2 % The trick is to be able to catch the file with the unknown character in it alone -- and I did it by first moving the file that had the correct name (since I specified it as it looked). After that, I could use a wildcard to match the remaining file (thus not having to type the unknown character), and everything is now OK! -tih -- Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, NHH, Bergen, Norway. Telephone: +47-5-959205 tih@barsoom.nhh.no, thelbekk@norunit.bitnet, edb_tom@debet.nhh.no
ricks@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM (Rick Silverstein) (06/15/90)
In article <1990Jun15.090604.21916@dasys1.uucp> tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz) writes: >Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory. > >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <----- >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <----- > >You will note that there are two files with identical names. You must have a non-printable control character in one of the names. Try: /bin/ls | cat -v This will display the control character that ls is hiding from you. Berkeley's ls (/usr/ucb/ls) will print a '?' for the control character.
aindiana@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Daiv Stoner) (06/16/90)
ricks@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM (Rick Silverstein) writes: >In article <1990Jun15.090604.21916@dasys1.uucp> tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz) writes: >>Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory. >> >>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <----- >>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <----- >> >>You will note that there are two files with identical names. >You must have a non-printable control character in one of the names. >Try: >/bin/ls | cat -v >This will display the control character that ls is hiding from you. >Berkeley's ls (/usr/ucb/ls) will print a '?' for the control character. I believe "l -b" will also show you the strange char. -- Daiv Stoner +===============================================+ aindiana@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu | I work for the Gov't. If I want your opinion | oinxds@ria-emh1.army.mil | I'll ask you to fill out the necessary forms. | Disclaimer: The Dept. of +===============================================+ Defense doesn't even know what it's doing, let alone what I'm doing.
cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) (06/16/90)
In article <1990Jun15.090604.21916@dasys1.uucp> tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Betz) writes: >Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory. > >total 206 >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature >drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/ >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <----- >-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <----- >drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/ > > >You will note that there are two files with identical names. No. I'll bet you that they have different names and that the portion of one of the name is not printable or overwritten. For example any of the following names will appear the same way: "applied.gw" "ax\bpplied.gw" (\b is a backspace) "applied.gw " (note space at end of name) So do an od -bc of . (the directory) to see the different names. -- Conor P. Cahill (703)430-9247 Virtual Technologies, Inc., uunet!virtech!cpcahil 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160 Sterling, VA 22170