So you want to copy a file in Linux? Easy enough.<\/p>\n
cp filename newfilename<\/p>\n
But sometimes it isn’t so easy… Say the file you want to copy begins with a .<\/p>\n
You can’t see these files unless you add -a to your ls command<\/p>\n
ls -la
\n.bashrc
\n.bash_profile<\/p>\n
Once you can see the file, you can copy it as follows:
\ncp .bashrc .bashrc2<\/p>\n
Not so bad, but if it starts with a hyphen it requires special handling to prevent your shell from thinking you are passing a parameter to the cp command. You’ll need to precede the filename with a .\/ as follows:<\/p>\n
cp .\/–filename newfilename<\/p>\n
Another difficulty with copying files is when someone has either intentionally or unintentionally created a file with a non-viewable ASCII character in the name. Say, for instance, someone has created a file with a name preceded by an ASCII space or the name is only an ASCII space. How do you delete that file? The same way as we copied a file starting with a hythen above.<\/p>\n
rm .\/ filename<\/p>\n
you can also use rm -i to force you to verify the deletion for extra protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So you want to copy a file in Linux? Easy enough. cp filename newfilename But sometimes it isn’t so easy… Say the file you want to copy begins with a . You can’t see these files unless you add -a … Continue reading