Can't Change to Directory in Ubuntu

thanksajdotcom

Having an issue where I'm trying to issue the following command:

cd -.MP3.-

That is the actual directory name. However, all I get is this:

-bash: cd: -.: invalid option
cd: usage: cd [-L|[-P [-e]] [-@]] [dir]

I've tried adding a backslash to the front, putting it in single and double quotes, but nothing will allow me to change to the directory. Any advice?

Thanks,
A.J.

lance

I think that if your file starts with a hyphen you have to use another hyphen --.MP3.0- to cd into it.

lance

or try cd "-directory" or cd *directory

thanksajdotcom

@lance said:

I think that if your file starts with a hyphen you have to use another hyphen --.MP3.0- to cd into it.

Ok, I'll give that a shot. Thanks!

thanksajdotcom

@lance said:

I think that if your file starts with a hyphen you have to use another hyphen --.MP3.0- to cd into it.

Nope, that wasn't it. Paging @scottalanmiller

lance

@thanksajdotcom No problem, hopefully it works for you. Those darn hyphens can cause issues sometimes...

thanksajdotcom

Ok, got it! Syntax is as follows:

cd -- -.MP3.-

Thanks!

thanksajdotcom

Credit goes here: http://linuxers.org/quick-tips/how-open-directory-or-file-starting-hyphen

coliver

Have you tried using cd against the entire path? Or the parent path? either

 cd ../folder/-.MP3.-

or

 cd /parentfoldertree/-.MP3.-

Or you could try it with absolute quotes

 cd '-.MP3.-'

thanksajdotcom

@coliver said:

Have you tried using cd against the entire path? Or the parent path? either
 cd ../folder/-.MP3.-
Or you could try it with absolute quotes
 cd '-.MP3.-'

Tried it with the quotes. That didn't work. If I go up a level and then do this, it works as well...

cd Music/-.MP3.-

Thanks for the suggestion!

coliver

Tab completion may also have made this easier. Not sure though.

lance

@thanksajdotcom said:

Ok, got it! Syntax is as follows:
cd -- -.MP3.-
Thanks!

Awesome! I knew it was something like that... It's been awhile since I ran into that.

thanksajdotcom

@coliver said:

Tab completion may also have made this easier. Not sure though.

Nope, it didn't. Tried that too.

thanksajdotcom

@lance said:

@thanksajdotcom said:
Ok, got it! Syntax is as follows:
cd -- -.MP3.-
Thanks!
Awesome! I knew it was something like that... It's been awhile since I ran into that.

Yeah, the file structure was originally designed to be accessed under Windows and I'd just never navigated to these directories under Linux until today. They still read the files inside fine. Just changing to it was a bit wonky. Lol

tonyshowoff

Also you can use backslashes, and in fact that's the more "proper" way to escape the characters.

cd \-.MP3.\-

...for example. Quotes may work slightly differently, or not at all, depending on what you're doing, so maybe get used to escaping things the other way. You can also make this behaviour happen automagically by hitting tab to autocomplete with some shells and it will auto escape required characters.

thanksajdotcom

@tonyshowoff said:

Also you can use backslashes, and in fact that's the more "proper" way to escape the characters.
cd \-.MP3.\-
...for example. Quotes may work slightly differently, or not at all, depending on what you're doing, so maybe get used to escaping things the other way. You can also make this behaviour happen automagically by hitting tab to autocomplete with some shells and it will auto escape required characters.

I tried that. That didn't work either.

thanksajdotcom

The two solutions are either...

cd Music/-.MP3.-
cd -- -.MP3.-

Thanks,
A.J.

tonyshowoff

My fault, I forgot files starting with a hyphen are treated completely differently, but you can do this:

anton@c0:~$ mkdir -- -.MP3.-
anton@c0:~$ cd -- -.MP3.-
anton@c0:~/-.MP3.-$

Or even

anton@c0:~$ mkdir ./-.MP3.-
anton@c0:~$ cd ./-.MP3.-
anton@c0:~/-.MP3.-$

So you need not navigate from parent at all, you can do it from the working directory itself. Navigating from parent seems painful, but parents usually are a pain.

tonyshowoff

Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

thanksajdotcom

@tonyshowoff said:

Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

I didn't have any Linux systems connected to it when I named all these and I don't really have a reason, it's just how I named it at the time. I think these directories were originally part of a larger folder structure so I started the name with a dash to put them at the top and also so all the format folders would be grouped together.