Unix folder has file named "-f". Standard `/bin/bash` tools do not recognized this (can not `rm`, `cat`, nor `stat` this). What to do? [duplicate]

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~/SusuLib $ ls
 -f              README.md     build.sh                deb               hooks       logs2         sh
'4 2.cxx'        SECURITY.md   build.sh.bash           downloads         libxml      obj           table-of-contents.md
 Info            TODO2         c                       git-rebase-todo   libxml2     packages.sh   tensorflow
 LICENSE         a.out         compile_commands.json   gitlog            libxml2.c   posts         tidy
 LICENSE_GPLv2   bin           cxx                     gitlogstat        logs        robots.txt
~/SusuLib $ rm -f
~/SusuLib $ ls
 -f              README.md     build.sh                deb               hooks       logs2         sh
'4 2.cxx'        SECURITY.md   build.sh.bash           downloads         libxml      obj           table-of-contents.md
 Info            TODO2         c                       git-rebase-todo   libxml2     packages.sh   tensorflow
 LICENSE         a.out         compile_commands.json   gitlog            libxml2.c   posts         tidy
 LICENSE_GPLv2   bin           cxx                     gitlogstat        logs        robots.txt
~/SusuLib $ rm \-f
~/SusuLib $ ls
 -f              README.md     build.sh                deb               hooks       logs2         sh
'4 2.cxx'        SECURITY.md   build.sh.bash           downloads         libxml      obj           table-of-contents.md
 Info            TODO2         c                       git-rebase-todo   libxml2     packages.sh   tensorflow
 LICENSE         a.out         compile_commands.json   gitlog            libxml2.c   posts         tidy
 LICENSE_GPLv2   bin           cxx                     gitlogstat        logs        robots.txt
~/SusuLib $ rm "-f"
~/SusuLib $ ls
 -f              README.md     build.sh                deb               hooks       logs2         sh
'4 2.cxx'        SECURITY.md   build.sh.bash           downloads         libxml      obj           table-of-contents.md
 Info            TODO2         c                       git-rebase-todo   libxml2     packages.sh   tensorflow
 LICENSE         a.out         compile_commands.json   gitlog            libxml2.c   posts         tidy
 LICENSE_GPLv2   bin           cxx                     gitlogstat        logs        robots.txt
~/SusuLib $ cat -f
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat: invalid option -- 'f'
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ cat \-f
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat: invalid option -- 'f'
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ cat "-f"
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat: invalid option -- 'f'
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ cat "\-f"
cat: '\-f': No such file or directory
~/SusuLib $ cat '-f'
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat: invalid option -- 'f'
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/cat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ cat '\-f'
cat: '\-f': No such file or directory
~/SusuLib $ stat -f
stat: missing operand
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/stat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ stat \-f
stat: missing operand
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/stat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ stat "-f"
stat: missing operand
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/stat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ stat "\-f"
stat: cannot statx '\-f': No such file or directory
~/SusuLib $ stat '-f'
stat: missing operand
Try '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/stat --help' for more information.
~/SusuLib $ stat '\-f'
stat: cannot statx '\-f': No such file or directory
~/SusuLib $

This was on an Android smartphone.

Have since archived this folder (with tar -jcf ar.tar ./), decompressed this folder (with tar -xf ar.tar, on Ubuntu), executed the above commands through Ubuntu, but there are no differences.

BTW, none of cat, rm, ls or stat have anything to do with bash (the GNU shell a programming language and interactive tool specialised in running other commands). cat, rm and ls are standard POSIX commands, stat is not. — Stéphane Chazelas
– Stéphane Chazelas, Commented Oct 1 at 4:26
this also has nothing to do with Linux in particular, the way options work is rather common across utilities and across OSes (exceptions apply in cases like tar, dd and the shell, but they're not OS-dependent either) — ilkkachu
– ilkkachu, Commented Oct 1 at 6:20
Note that quoting doesn't help since it would only prevent the shell from treating the dash as a special character. But the dash doesn't have meaning to the shell, so that doesn't do anything, and the shell just removes the quotes and escapes before passing the string on to the program. So, with all of -f, "-f", \-f, what the tool itself sees as the argument is just -f. Though in "\-f" and '\-f', the backslash itself is quoted, so the tool sees \-f. But that doesn't help, since now it looks for a file literally named with a backslash. :) — ilkkachu
– ilkkachu, Commented Oct 1 at 6:25
Why is this being downvoted? Yes, the OP has some misconceptions and tried things that wouldn't work. So? They tried, they put in the work, they just didn't know the right thing to do and that's what we're here for! — terdon
– terdon ♦, Commented Oct 2 at 8:10

Hauke Laging · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-30 21:53:52Z

2

Two options:

Tell the command that all remaining arguments are not options (but file names or whatever the command expects). This is done with --:
```
rm -- -f
```
Rewrite the file name so that it does not look like an option any more:
```
rm ./-f
```

answered Sep 30 at 21:53

Hauke Laging

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Gilles Quénot · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-30 23:02:35Z

2

If you need to remove a file named -f, you can’t just run rm -f because rm will interpret -f as an option (force) rather than a file name.

To tell rm stop parsing options and treat the following arguments as literal file names, you use the -- end-of-options marker:

rm -f -- -f

The -- marker is mandatory here to avoid passing -f as a switch of the rm command, or there's also another way:

rm -f ./-f

References

POSIX utility conventions (-- to end option parsing)

edited Sep 30 at 23:02

answered Sep 30 at 21:52

Gilles Quénot

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Unix folder has file named "-f". Standard `/bin/bash` tools do not recognized this (can not `rm`, `cat`, nor `stat` this). What to do? [duplicate]

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