On 2025-10-30 at 14:32, debian-user@howorth.org.uk wrote: > The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> wrote: > >> On 2025-10-30 at 13:33, Michael wrote: >> >>> The command >>> >>> ls -- *.pdf >>> >>> has been run and a very large number of PDF files has been >>> listed. >>> >>> It is very difficult to spot any strangely named PDF files. >>> >>> What command should be issued to easily list any strangely named >>> PDF file ? >> >> Try: >> >> $ ls -- *.pdf | grep ' -' >> >> This should show you any files whose name include a space followed >> by a dash. The space would be treated as a token separator, and the >> dash would be treated as the beginning of a new argument to ls. > > err no, ls lists multiple files on a line and this wouldn't pick up > any file at the start of a line. In addition to the notes Nicolas George made, I'll point out that the issue is almost certainly not about the characters at the *start* of a filename, but about a filename with a space *in* it and a dash *after that space*. The command I suggested was aimed primarily at catching files with such a ' -' sequence in the middle of the name. I'll admit that it wouldn't catch filenames that start with a '-', or at least I'm not confident that it would. I suppose something like # ls -- *.pdf | grep '(^| )-' would catch both cases. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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