Delete a file

[Mark Brook]

I have somehow managed to create a file on our unix box without a filename. So when you list the files in the directory you get the following

file123

file124

How can I remove a file, without a filename?

Thanks

Mark

[john korterman · Accepted solution]

Hi,
tricky if the file has no name. Try to execute ls -b and show us what appears.

regards,
John K

[RAC_1]

ls -lbi

note down inode no.

then

find . -num inode_no -exec rm -fr {} \;

[Mark Brook]

I have done the ls -lbi and the filename is \ma123.

Wasnt sure about using the find then rm options, since I read what -rf does.

Can you remove the file using the id number?

Thanks

Mark

[john korterman]

Hi again,
as RAC says, use the inode number for removing the file. The inode number is the number appearing left of the filename when executing ls -bi. It should be enough if you just do this:
# cd to the right directory
# find . -inum -exec rm {} \;

which will remove the file having and nothing else.
It is important to be in the right directory as the inode numbers are only unique within each filesystem!

but it is perhaps a good idea to touch another file (with a name) and practice on that first.

regards,
John K.

[steven Burgess_2]

Nope

You need the file name

HTH

Ste

[A. Clay Stephenson]

No, rm will not use inode numbers. You coulkd use the find ... -exec rm {} \; without the fr options if it will make you feel better.

Another option is to use the interactive version of rm:

rm -i *a123

That will prompt you for a y/n for each file matching the pattern. As soon as you see your file, answer y to delete it and then you can ctrl-c (or whatever your INTR is set to) to end the rm command.

[lawrenzo]

what if you used rm -i *

[Vitek Pepas]

Try this:
ls > list.txt
then vi list.txt and remove all lines except of your 'blank' filename, then
rm `cat list.txt`