ls command

[Donna Powell]

I need some HP-UX help with listing a file with meatacharaters at the beginning of the file name. The file looks like this:

-EE-FILENAME

when I try and run a simple ls command the OS interpets the -E as an option and will not list the file. Even if I put the filename in double quotes I still can't get the OS to recognize the file as a file and not an option. In AIX I can use the # on files like this. What can I use for HPUX?

[Jdamian]

Type the following

ls -- -EE-FILENAME

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Because ls uses the getopts convention, you can terminate the search for additional "-" options by using "--".

e.g.
ls -l -- -EE-FILENAME
the -l will be recognized and honored, "--" tells ls no more options so that everything after is a filename.

[Chris Wilshaw]

You need to tell the command that anything that follows is not an option to the command.

Do this using --

eg:

ls -- -EE-FILENAME

[melvyn burnard]

use the esacpe or \ character as in:
ls \-EE-FILENAME
The \ escapes the special meaning of the next character immeidately following it.

[Kenneth Platz]

You can use "ls -b" to output the nonprinting and/or metacharacters in octal, and you should be able to use the backslash key along with the appropriate octal notation to reference the file.

[Donna Powell]

Thank you all for your replys. They were are great suggestions to resolve my problem. Thank you so much

[Todd McDaniel_1]

one more thing that is not widely used...

If you use the ./ in front of the filename it will allow you to rm or mv it...

mv ./-EE--filename /tmp/
cp ./-EE--filename EE-filename


Also, great for use in scripts where you want to make sure you refer to a file in your current directory and not one similarly named in your $PATH!