tim (06/15/82)
Thanks for all of the replys to our system pgmers question
about the ???? and -. files. Actually, I solved the prob-
lem locally when I read about it in the netnews! I was
unaware we had the problem! The solution I came up with was
simply:
rm -ri directory_name
This is the same solution submitted by Bill Tuthill
[ucbvax!G:tut]. The point brought up by N.R. Fildes is
correct that the * will not expand names that contain a
character >127 in it. So "rm -i *" did not work because csh
seemed to have trouble with the file name. The -r option of
the rm command made rm expand the directory itself rather
than the shell filename expansion and thus was able to find
the strange characters.
I might point out that a lot of answers where submitted that
\might/ work but were very complicated. For the most part,
I have found that the existing utilities of UNIX have almost
always been able to accomplish anything necessary with lit-
tle hassle. This is basically the idea behind pipes.
The difficult part is in knowing all of the utilities avail-
able and just what power they have. One might use rm fre-
quently but when attempting something strange, it helps to
take a closer look at the manual entry. You might find
something you didn't know. I've been using the more cmd for
over a year and just recently found the -c option which I
consider great!
The moral of the story is: You may know UNIX. You may be a
very knowledgeable person. But the manuals know more! When
doing something strange, consult them!
Tim Curry
USENET: duke!ucf-cs!tim
ARPANET: ucf-cs.tim@udel-relay