Rename a folder called '\n'

colm_c

For some reason and I don't know how, but a user has renamed a folder to '\n'.

So when you ls -l it just has a '?', but when you do an ls -lb it comes up as '\n'.

Any ideas how I could rename this folder? I've tried

mv '\n' newfoldername

Any help appreciated.

colm_c

Tried those

Getting an error:
mv: cannot stat `n': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat `\\n': No such file or directory

Danimalito

hmm.. you can probably do something like this (assuming bash shell)

% for i in *; do printf "rename $(ls -db $i) ? [y/N] "; read a; [ "$a" == "y" ] && mv -- $i targetdir;done

colm_c

Not working either.

I might have to look at a backup and restore from that.

Aquafresh

When you say: "the folder name is '\n'"
I think what you really mean is: "the folder name is $THE_NEWLINE_CHAR" (if you get me)

'\n' is just an escape sequence used in C etc. for inserting a newline character (line feed, 0x0a) in a string. i.e. the string
"asf\n\nasfhkasf\n" in actuality (i.e. if viewed in a debugger etc.) is:
"asf$(0x0a)$(0x0a)nasfhkasf$(0x0a)

so basically your shell is interpreting the directory name (0x0a) as '\n' and printing that for you. To delete/rename/remove the dir you just need to say 'mv $(0x0a) foo'

In zsh (emacs mode) I can do this by saying:
mv 'C-q
' foo

(this prints like:
[root@bbbox]/root# mv '
quote> ' foo
)



in bash:
mv 'C-vC-j' foo

(this prints like:
[root@bbbox ~]# mv '
> ' foo
)

C-q means press control and q, C-v means press control and v.

Hope this helps

colm_c

Aquafresh wrote: »

When you say: "the folder name is '\n'"
I think what you really mean is: "the folder name is $THE_NEWLINE_CHAR" (if you get me)

'\n' is just an escape sequence used in C etc. for inserting a newline character (line feed, 0x0a) in a string. i.e. the string
"asf\n\nasfhkasf\n" in actuality (i.e. if viewed in a debugger etc.) is:
"asf$(0x0a)$(0x0a)nasfhkasf$(0x0a)

so basically your shell is interpreting the directory name (0x0a) as '\n' and printing that for you. To delete/rename/remove the dir you just need to say 'mv $(0x0a) foo'

In zsh (emacs mode) I can do this by saying:
mv 'C-q
' foo

(this prints like:
[root@bbbox]/root# mv '
quote> ' foo
)



in bash:
mv 'C-vC-j' foo

(this prints like:
[root@bbbox ~]# mv '
> ' foo
)

C-q means press control and q, C-v means press control and v.

Hope this helps

You sir are a legend.

Worked a treat.

Khannie

impressed tbh.

cance

Khannie wrote: »

impressed tbh.

agreed, and that he's been registered for 10 years and only posted 8 times... that is legendary lurking.

Khannie

cance wrote: »

that is legendary lurking.

HAHAHA.