Undeletable files with strange names

iconara

Registered
Hello, I have an annoying problem. I have a file with strange characters in the filename that can't be deleted.

When I downloaded files from an ftp-server whose names contained characters like å, ä, ö (common in Sweden). Now all files containing such a character got a strange name (which is not so odd, since the odd character looked like the start of a multibyte char, and was then displayed as a multibyte char), those were no problem, I was able to rename them and give them proper names.

One file, however, stood out, it contained two strange characters in a row, and got a really messed up name. When I click on the name it disapears from the finder window, until I close and open it again. I cannot rename it (since I can't click on it) and when trying my good ol' friend the terminal, it cannot display the name, but says filename with strange unprintable chars + "No such file or directory". rm seems not an option.

How do I delete this thing? I can move it to the trash (by moving the folder that contains it), but it's not deleted when I empty the trash.

thanks for any help
Theo
 
See if you can put it in a new folder and stuff the folder then use Terminal.

In the future, please do not post anything about illegal files on this board.
 
try deleting it with transmit (an ftp app) when i had a file i couldint delete it deleted it :)
 
Or go to the Terminal, type "sudo rm -rf " (without the quotes but _with_ the spaces) and drag the file to the Terminal (the path gets added). Then hit return and enter your administrator password. Done.
 
Thank you both for your suggestions. But the stuffit solution has this problem: even if I stuff it, I will have the original copy left, and the sudo rm bit I have alread tried. rm, mv, ls, none of them can work with the file. The message I get is this:

rm: cannot lstat `temporary/<ugly chars>` (where <ugly chars> is the filename)


does anyone know how to list files without listing the names, just getting information that I can use to delete it. for example, is it possible to delete a file by inode or something?

Theo
 
Back
Top