i need to remove a file the problem is it will not let me remove a file because it thought that i was instructing it to remove a directory. the issue was that the file and directory has the same name.
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 sql
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 scripts
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 executables
drwxrwxr-x 8 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 22 2009 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wtolenti lpsgrp 217088 Jul 09 2015 reports
drwxrwxr-x 7 ora102 lpsgrp 4096 Jul 09 2015 .
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 13 14:31 forms
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 30 09:22 reports
$ rm reports
rm: 0653-603 Cannot remove directory reports.
please advise. thanks.
gull04
December 20, 2017, 10:48am
2
Hi,
If you run ls -lib in the directory, this will show both the Inode number and if there are any non-printable characters in the filenames.
To remove the file you should run - without the quotation marks!
find . -inum "NNNNNN" -print
Or
find . -inum "NNNNNN" -exec ls -l {} \;
If this returns what you expect you can then run.
find . -inum "NNNNN" -exec rm -i {} \;
Make sure the first find returns the required result.
Regards
Gull04
The same name should be impossible.rm -i *reports*
gull04
December 20, 2017, 11:01am
4
Hi MadeinGermany,
Not so easy - some times the problem is in the middle of the filename; See below;
e415243 on BUILD cathsunvs02 # ls -l
total 15838
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 6 08:07 bin
-rw-r----- 1 root root 4037689 Aug 22 10:12 cathvs2-cathnhhda-oas_detach.xml
-rw-r----- 1 root root 4040266 Aug 22 10:13 cathvs2-cathnhhda-ooa_detach.xml
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Dec 20 15:58 data
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:04 data
-rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 136 Dec 9 2016 local.cshrc
-rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 167 Dec 9 2016 local.login
-rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 184 Dec 9 2016 local.profile
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:02 logs
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:02 tmp
e415243 on BUILD cathsunvs02 # ls -lib
total 15838
35603 drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 6 08:07 bin
34994 -rw-r----- 1 root root 4037689 Aug 22 10:12 cathvs2-cathnhhda-oas_detach.xml
34995 -rw-r----- 1 root root 4040266 Aug 22 10:13 cathvs2-cathnhhda-ooa_detach.xml
35610 -rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Dec 20 15:58 da\001ta
35604 drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:04 data
35125 -rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 136 Dec 9 2016 local.cshrc
35127 -rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 167 Dec 9 2016 local.login
35128 -rw-r----- 1 e415243 other 184 Dec 9 2016 local.profile
35606 drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:02 logs
35605 drwxr-x--- 2 root root 512 Dec 5 16:02 tmp
e415243 on BUILD cathsunvs02 #
This duplicate entry was just a simple "ctrl a" in the file name which is invisible normally - which your rm would miss!
Regards
Gull04
rbatte1
December 20, 2017, 12:48pm
6
Might I suggest:-
Get the file inode number with ls -li
Remove the file with find . -xdev -inum <<inode number from before>> -exec ls -l {} \; -exec echo rm {} \;
If you are happy with the display, run the find again without the echo in it.
The -xdev stops it heading off into another filesystem and deleting a file there.
Does that help?
Robin
i entered these commands:
$ ls -lib
total 472
204826 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 executables
204827 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 13 14:31 forms
204828 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 30 09:22 reports
151855 -rwxr-xr-x 1 wtolenti lpsgrp 217088 Jul 09 2015 reports\177s
204829 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 scripts
204830 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 sql
$ ls -li
total 472
204826 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 executables
204827 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 13 14:31 forms
204828 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 30 09:22 reports
151855 -rwxr-xr-x 1 wtolenti lpsgrp 217088 Jul 09 2015 reports
204829 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 scripts
204830 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 sql
$
$ find . -inum "177" -print
$ find . -inum "177s" -print
$ find . -inum "reports\177s" -print
find: 0652-086 Specify a decimal integer for -inum
Usage: find [-H | -L] Path-list [Expression-list]
The inode number is in the 1st column.
find . \! -name . -prune -inum 151855 -exec echo rm {} \;
Hi,
Please execute find command as below.
find . -inum 151855 -print
Given what you have shown us with the ls -lib , the following command should work:
rm reports*s
RudiC
December 21, 2017, 4:17am
11
reportss should not collide with reports .
gull04
December 21, 2017, 11:03am
12
Hi Folks,
This would just seem to me that there is a backspace embedded in the file name.
e415243 on BUILD cathsunvs02 # od -c
reportys^?^?s
reports
0000000 r e p o r t y s 177 177 s \n r e p o
^Ce415243 on BUILD cathsunvs02 #
So most of the solutions above will work fine.
Regards
Gull04
$ ls -lib
total 472
204826 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 executables
204827 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 13 14:31 forms
204828 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Dec 21 15:18 reports
151855 -rwxr-xr-x 1 wtolenti lpsgrp 217088 Jul 09 2015 reports\177s
204829 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 scripts
204830 drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 sql
$ find . -inum 151855 -print
./reports
$
---------- Post updated at 03:39 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:37 PM ----------
thanks so much everyone it works
$ ls -altr reports*s
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wtolenti lpsgrp 217088 Jul 09 2015 reports
$ rm reports*s
$
$ ls -latr
total 56
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 sql
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 scripts
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 03 2009 executables
drwxrwxr-x 8 ora102 lpsgrp 256 Apr 22 2009 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Nov 13 14:31 forms
drwxrwxr-x 2 ora102 lpsgrp 12288 Dec 21 15:18 reports
drwxrwxr-x 7 ora102 lpsgrp 4096 Dec 21 15:38 .
$