Two files, same directory, same name...
Tom Betz
total 206
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature
drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <-----
-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/
You will note that there are two files with identical names.
I can view them using 'more' and they are indeed two different
files. I haven't done anything else with them yet (I'll 'cat'
them to another file if I can) but I can't figure out how this
can happen.
Ideas?
I swear that, other than shortening it, I have not modified this
listing in any way.
--
MY CURRENT FAVORITE ADVERTISING LINES: |Tom Betz
"Look what they done to old Duke... |ZCNY, Yonkers, NY 10701-2509
next year I'm growing corn." |UUCP: tb...@dasys1.UUCP or
Tom Ivar Helbekkmo
files have the exact same name. Since this is a situation that's easy
to get into, but much harder to solve unless you know how, and since
it can quickly lead to lost data, here's a somewhat verbose explanation:
The problem is that one of your two files has a name that contains a
non-printing character. This happens now and then... Here's an `ls
-la` of a directory I just created to illustrate it:
% ls -la
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 tih users 80 Jun 15 17:41 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 tih users 704 Jun 15 17:41 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 tih users 21 Jun 15 17:40 Testfile
-rw-r--r-- 1 tih users 42 Jun 15 17:41 Testfile
%
And here's the `od -c .` output showing what the directory entry
actually contains (this is a System V directory, yours will look
different if you're running BSD Unix):
% od -c .
0000000 223 & . \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0000020 270 017 . . \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0000040 236 < T e s t f i l e \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0000060 b B T e s t f i l e 004 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
%
Notice the byte with the value 004 (or Ctrl-D) there? One file is
actually named "Testfile", while the other one is called "Testfile^D"!
This might happen, in some applications, if you start to type a
filename, and then accidentally hit a non-printing character while
doing it. (I did it by going into an editor, reading in Testfile, and
then specifying Testfile^D when I wrote it back out.)
To fix this one, without losing either file, I would do:
% ls
Testfile
Testfile
% mv Testfile File.1
% ls
File.1
Testfile
% mv Testfile* File.2
% ls
File.1
File.2
%
The trick is to be able to catch the file with the unknown character
in it alone -- and I did it by first moving the file that had the
correct name (since I specified it as it looked). After that, I could
use a wildcard to match the remaining file (thus not having to type
the unknown character), and everything is now OK!
-tih
--
Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, NHH, Bergen, Norway. Telephone: +47-5-959205
t...@barsoom.nhh.no, thel...@norunit.bitnet, edb...@debet.nhh.no
Rick Silverstein
>Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory.
>
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
>
You must have a non-printable control character in one of the names.
Try:
/bin/ls | cat -v
This will display the control character that ls is hiding from you.
Berkeley's ls (/usr/ucb/ls) will print a '?' for the control character.
Daiv Stoner
>Try:
>/bin/ls | cat -v
I believe "l -b" will also show you the strange char.
--
Daiv Stoner +===============================================+
aind...@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu | I work for the Gov't. If I want your opinion |
oin...@ria-emh1.army.mil | I'll ask you to fill out the necessary forms. |
Disclaimer: The Dept. of +===============================================+
Defense doesn't even know what it's doing, let alone what I'm doing.
Edgar Holmann
This won't work if the extra characters are spaces which is probably the case.
Use 'od -a' as the pipe instead of the 'cat -v' option.
ls | od -a
--
Edgar Holmann UUCP: decwrl!nova!ed...@uunet.uu.net
ed...@Neon.stanford.edu BITNET: edgar%Neon.stanford.edu@stanford
Edgar Holmann
This won't work if the extra characters are spaces which is probably the case.
Edgar Holmann
This won't work if the extra characters are spaces which is probably the case.
Ronald Pikkert
> Below is an excerpt of a listing of my $HOME/News directory.
>
> total 206
> -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature
> drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/
> -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <-----
> -rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
> drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/
>
>
> You will note that there are two files with identical names.
>
invisable (but present) characters in the filenames.
Are you sure that vi didn't warn about non-ascii characters
in your ls file?
-
Ronald Pikkert E-mail: ron...@atcmp.nl
@ AT Computing b.v. Tel: 080 - 566880
Toernooiveld
6525 ED Nijmegen
Jean-Pierre Radley
>
>total 206
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature
>drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <-----
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
>drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/
>
>You will note that there are two files with identical names.
>
>I can view them using 'more' and they are indeed two different
>files. I haven't done anything else with them yet (I'll 'cat'
>them to another file if I can) but I can't figure out how this
>can happen.
Tom, have you considered the possibility that one or both of those
filenames consider a non-printing character?
Try 'hd', 'od', or 'vis' on $HOME/News, and then tell us if they're still
twins or not.
--
Jean-Pierre Radley jpr@jpradley
New York, NY 72160...@compuserve.com
Conor P. Cahill
>
>total 206
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 0 Dec 3 1988 .comsignature
>drwxr-xr-x 11 tbetz 176 Oct 18 1988 alt/
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 12756 Jun 14 06:49 applied.gw <-----
>-rw-r--r-- 1 tbetz 64775 Jun 14 06:48 applied.gw <-----
>drwxr-xr-x 5 tbetz 80 Sep 24 1988 ca/
>
>
>You will note that there are two files with identical names.
No. I'll bet you that they have different names and that the portion of
one of the name is not printable or overwritten. For example any of the
following names will appear the same way:
"applied.gw"
"ax\bpplied.gw" (\b is a backspace)
"applied.gw " (note space at end of name)
So do an od -bc of . (the directory) to see the different names.
--
Conor P. Cahill (703)430-9247 Virtual Technologies, Inc.,
uunet!virtech!cpcahil 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160
Sterling, VA 22170
carl brandauer
1: ls -i app
and note inumbers of the files in question.
2: find . -inum xxx -exec mv {} new_name ";"
where xxx is the inumber of one of the offenders and new_name
whatever is appropriate.
NOTE: The option "inum" is not documented anywhere but does exist with every
version of find I have ever used, beginning with Version 7.
Guy Harris
Actually, it is documented in 4BSD, and systems that picked up the
documentation of "-inum" from there, including System V Release 4.
carl brandauer
version of my manuals from either BTL (Release 3 and Release 5, later to
become System III and System V) or more recently from AT&T (e.g. SVR3).
Sorry about that - Carl
Boyd Roberts
It is documented in the Ninth Edition Programmer's Manual Volume 1.
Shock horror!! System V.2.2 `man find' documents it too!?!
Boyd Roberts bo...@necisa.ho.necisa.oz.au
``When the going gets wierd, the weird turn pro...''
