Like to remove blank file but find showing multiple hits for inode number

[Mike755]

Below is what I'm seeing. Would like to remove the "blank" file name in the "/" directory seen below with inode number 2793.  Noticing file is zero count with only date and year no "time" listed when written last.

Just don't want to remove anything else associated with that number as shown when running find command.

# pwd
/

# ll -i
total 164
  2794 drwxr-xr-x   3 root       sys             96 May 22 08:14 .sw
  2790 lrwxr-xr-x   1 root       sys             12 Jul 18 11:42 ASKPLUS -> /usr
/askplus
  2789 -rw-rw-rw-   1 root       root          4266 Sep 11 11:39 CTSTATUS.FCS
  2792 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb 26  2013 SD_CDROM
   384 drwxr-xr-x   4 root       sys             96 Sep 12 14:53 backup
  1024 lr-xr-xr-x   1 bin        bin              8 Jul 18 11:39 bin -> /usr/bin

   123 dr-xr-xr-x  23 bin        bin           8192 Sep 11 11:41 dev
     4 dr-xr-xr-x  40 bin        bin           8192 Sep 12 14:31 etc
     2 drwxr-xr-x  11 root       root          8192 Jun  5 15:30 home
  1025 lr-xr-xr-x   1 bin        bin              8 Jul 18 11:39 lib -> /usr/lib

     3 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       root            96 Feb  1  2013 lost+found
  2796 drwxr-xr-x   3 root       sys             96 Jun  5 16:56 mnt
  2791 dr-xr-xr-x   2 root       root            96 Feb 21  2013 net
     2 dr-xr-xr-x  108 bin        bin           8192 Sep 10 11:22 opt
     2 drwxr-xr-x  16 root       root          2048 Sep 13 08:07 root
    13 dr-xr-xr-x  16 bin        bin           8192 Jul 18 12:02 sbin
     2 dr-xr-xr-x   8 bin        bin           8192 Sep 11 11:40 stand
     2 drwxrwxrwx   7 root       root          8192 Sep 13 08:07 tmp
     2 dr-xr-xr-x  24 bin        bin           8192 Feb 27  2013 usr
     2 dr-xr-xr-x  33 bin        bin           8192 Sep  5 12:08 var
  2793 -rw-r--r--   1 root       sys              0 Feb 26  2013

# find . -inum 2793 -exec ll -i {} \;
  2793 -r--r--r--   1 speclive   live          2816 Nov  4  2008 ./opt/summit/sp
ectrum/LIVE/cdoc/cstoplog.html
  2793 -r--r--r--   1 spectest   test          2816 Nov  4  2008 ./opt/summit/sp
ectrum/TEST/cdoc/cstoplog.html
  2793 -r--r--r--   1 spectrn    trn           2816 Nov  4  2008 ./opt/summit/sp
ectrum/TRAIN/cdoc/cstoplog.html
  2793 -r--r--r--   1 bin        bin           4037 Feb 20  2009 ./opt/wbem/mof/
CIM217/DMTF/Physical/CIM_MediaPhysicalStatInfo.mof
total 12
  2230 -rw-r--r--   1 root       bin            477 May 31 10:44 libcrypto.pc
  2231 -rw-r--r--   1 root       bin           1652 May 31 10:44 libcurl.pc
  2232 -rw-r--r--   1 root       bin            492 May 31 10:44 libssl.pc
  2233 -rw-r--r--   1 root       bin            501 May 31 10:44 libxml-2.0.pc
  2234 -rw-r--r--   1 root       bin            502 May 31 10:44 openssl.pc
  2793 -r--r--r--   1 bin        bin          41448 Jun 15  2012 ./usr/sbin/stm/
catalog/C/HP-UX_B.11.31/tools/expert/scsi_mo_dr.cat
total 32
  2804 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-COR-64SLIB
  2815 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys           8192 Feb  1  2013 DCE-CORE-DTS
  2822 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-CORE-HELP
  2827 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-CORE-NOTES
  2807 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys           8192 Feb  1  2013 DCE-CORE-RUN
  2799 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-CORE-SHLIB
  2830 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-IA64-SHLIB
  2833 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-JPN-E-MSG
  2837 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCE-JPN-S-MSG
  2841 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 DCEC-ENG-A-MAN
  2846 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 MACR-ENG-A-MAN
  2794 drwxr-xr-x   2 root       sys             96 Feb  1  2013 pfiles
  2793 -rw-rw-r--   1 bolive     live             0 Aug  2 22:16 ./var/summit/sp
ectrum/LIVE/FI/OUTPUT/RESTPSPR
  2793 -rw-r--r--   1 root       sys              0 Feb 26  2013 ./
#

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

If it is actually a space, you can remove it with:

rm -i " "

To see how many spaces, you should use: ll -ib /

># find . -inum 2793 -exec ll -i {} \;

The correct find command to stay in the current filesystem is:

find . -xdev -inum 2793 -exec ll -ibd {} +

If you only want to search the current directory:

find . ! -name . -type d -prune -o -xdev -inum 2793 -exec ll -ibd {} +

[Mike755]

Thanks Dennis the find command you shared is what I needed.

Can I ask how I assign point or points to award you this is my first post here and would like to award some if they do that.

[Mike755]

Nevermind see it does it automatically. =)

[Patrick Wallek]

What you are seeing are files with an inode of 2793, but you are seeing them within different file systems.  

Running your find from the '/' directory will search through ALL file systems on your system.  Each file system has its own list of inode numbers, so you can have the same inode number in each file system, but the inode will be referencing different files.

If you want to restrict your find command to a single file system you can add the '-xdev' option.

In your case:

# find . -xdev -inum 2793 -exec ll -i {} \;