Handling an option-like filename in the shell

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I delete a file whose name begins with "--"?

Due to mismatched switches when I was trying to run a command, I have a log file named -w in a directory. I want to see its contents with cat (or less) and then delete it.

I've tried escaping it with backslashes, single-quotes, double-quotes, parentheses, and backticks, but cat always complains that w is an unknown option.

How can I properly reference this file?

I would merge, but all the answers are already on the other question — Michael Mrozek, Aug 12 '11 at 14:19
@Michael: The other thread is much less concise than this one. The redirection should have been the other way around :-p — Stéphane Gimenez, Aug 12 '11 at 14:37
@Stephane Typically you close newer questions as duplicates of older ones, unless the older one was completely terrible — Michael Mrozek, Aug 12 '11 at 15:00

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 12 '11 at 13:29

6

Almost all commands allow -- as separator between options parameters and positional parameters. You can use the following:

cat -- -w
rm -f -- -w

answered Aug 12 '11 at 13:29

Stéphane Gimenez

28,907

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 12 '11 at 13:25

4

Prefix it with the path. For instance:

cat /home/whatever/-w
rm /home/whatever/-w

answered Aug 12 '11 at 13:25

nico

568

3

Nice trick that works when parameters are filenames. One may use ./-w also. – Stéphane Gimenez Aug 12 '11 at 13:34
@Stéphane: right, ./ also suffices! – nico Aug 12 '11 at 13:37

Handling an option-like filename in the shell

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