From O’Reilly’s “UNIX Power Tools”
\nCreating a file named -i will prevent an errant rm -rf * from wiping out the directory containing it. How? The * expands -i to your command line, and your rm -rf * becomes rm -rf -i *!<\/p>\n
See it in action:<\/p>\n
Note that this trick won\u2019t work if you specify an absolute path (as in rm -rf ~\/test\/) \u2014 only when you are within the directory. I\u2019d recommend dropping this in your home and \/ directories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From O’Reilly’s “UNIX Power Tools” Creating a file named -i will prevent an errant rm -rf * from wiping out the directory containing it. How? The * expands -i to your command line, and your rm -rf * becomes rm -rf -i *! See it in action: cd test\/ touch — -i touch 1 2… <\/p>\n
\n cd test\/
\ntouch -- -i
\ntouch 1 2 3 a b c
\nls
\n-i 1 2 3 a b c
\nrm -rf *
\nrm: remove regular empty file `1'?
\n<\/code>
\nSo how do you actually delete this odd file?
\n
\nrm -- -i
\n<\/code>
\nThe \u2018\u2013\u2019 option tells it to stop looking for flags and treat the rest of the command line as operands.<\/p>\n