Unix Tip: REMOVING FILES WITH BAD FILE NAMES

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UNIX HOT TIP

Unix Tip 3467 - August 7, 2010

http://www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/show?tip.today

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REMOVING FILES WITH BAD FILE NAMES

If a file has a special
character, Unix will try to
interpret the character.
Renaming these type of files
cannot be done with a simple
"mv".....it will have to be
done using the file's inode.

For example:
# ls -i "GSO (website)"
(the "-i" flag will display the file's inode)
41734 GSO(website)

...the inode for the "bad" file is "41734"

1. once the inode is identified, use the find command to
rename the file:

find . -inum 41734 -exec mv \{\} NewName \;

2. do an "ls" to verify

This tip generously supported by: arimaldo@earthlink.net

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