Spaces in this filename linux

How to Read a Filename with Spaces in Linux

It’s not very common in Linux to handle filename with spaces but sometimes files copied or mounted from windows would end up with spaces.

While it is not recommended to have file names with spaces, let discuss how to manage filename with spaces in a Linux system.

We will cover how to create, read and copy a file which has spaces in their filename.

1) Creating file names with spaces

To create files with spaces in file names, run the command as shown

For example, to create a file called ‘linoxide docs‘ use the syntax below

Output

If you want to view such a file with space in the file name, use the same principle of enclosing the file names inside the quotation marks.

2) Read a File with spaces in filename

You can use ‘cat’ command or open the document using your preferred text editor such as vim, nano or gedit.

Alternatively, you can use the syntax below

Let’s add some text to the ‘linoxide docs’ file

To view the file execute the command below

Output

3) Creating directory names with spaces

To create directory names with space in between use the syntax below

Please note the space after the backslash

For example, to create a directory called ‘linoxide files‘ run

Output

4) Navigating to a directory with spaces in the directory name

To navigate to a directory with spaces in its directory name, use the syntax below

To navigate to the directory ‘linoxide files’ execute the command below

5) Copying a directory with spaces in the directory name

To copy a directory with spaces in its directory name to a different location use the syntax below

For example to copy ‘linoxide files’ to /home/james path execute

Hope this article explained well on how to manage filename with spaces. Thanks for taking the time to read this article and please leave your comments.

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How to Manipulate Filenames Having Spaces and Special Characters in Linux

We come across files and folders name very regularly. In most of the cases file/folder name are related to the content of the file/folder and starts with number and characters. Alpha-Numeric file name are pretty common and very widely used, but this is not the case when we have to deal with file/folder name that has special characters in them.

Note: We can have files of any type but for simplicity and easy implementation we will be dealing with Text file (.txt), throughout the article.

Example of most common file names are:

Example of numeric file names are:

Example of Alpha-Numeric file names are:

Examples of file names that has special character and is not very common:

One of the most obvious question here is – who on earth create/deal with files/folders name having a Hash (#) , a semi-colon (;) , a dash (-) or any other special character.

I Agree to you, that such file names are not common still your shell should not break/give up when you have to deal with any such file names. Also speaking technically every thing be it folder, driver or anything else is treated as file in Linux.

Dealing with file that has dash (-) in it’s name

Create a file that starts with a dash (-) , say -abx.txt.

Sample Output

The reason for above error, that shell interprets anything after a dash (-) , as option, and obviously there is no such option, hence is the error.

To resolve such error, we have to tell the Bash shell (yup this and most of the other examples in the article is for BASH) not to interpret anything after special character (here dash), as option.

There are two ways to resolve this error as:

You may verify the file thus created by both the above ways by running commands ls or ls -l for long listing.

To edit the above file you may do:

Note: You may replace nano with any other editor of your choice say vim as:

Similarly to move such file you have to do:

and to Delete this file, you have to do:

If you have lots of files in a folder the name of which contains dash, and you want to delete all of them at once, do as:

Important to Note:

1. The same rule as discussed above follows for any number of hypen in the name of the file and their occurrence. Viz., -a-b-c.txt, ab-c.txt, abc-.txt, etc.

2. The same rule as discussed above follows for the name of the folder having any number of hypen and their occurrence, except the fact that for deleting the folder you have to use ‘rm -rf‘ as:

Dealing with files having HASH (#) in the name

The symbol # has a very different meaning in BASH. Anything after a # is interpreted as comment and hence neglected by BASH.

Understand it using examples:

create a file #abc.txt.

Sample Output

The reason for above error, that Bash is interpreting #abc.txt a comment and hence ignoring. So the command touch has been passed without any file Operand, and hence is the error.

To resolve such error, you may ask BASH not to interpret # as comment.

and verify the file just created as:

Now create a file the name of which contains # anywhere except at the begging.

Run ‘ls -l‘ to verify it:

What happens when you create two files (say a and #bc) at once:

Verify the file just created:

Obvious from the above example it only created file ‘a‘ and file ‘#bc‘ has been ignored. To execute the above situation successfully we can do,

and verify it as:

You can move the file as:

You may edit it as using your choice of editor as:

And Delete it as:

To delete all the files that has hash (#) in the file name, you may use:

Dealing with files having semicolon (;) in its name

In case you are not aware, semicolon acts as a command separator in BASH and perhaps other shell as well. Semicolon lets you execute several command in one go and acts as separator. Have you ever deal with any file name having semicolon in it? If not here you will.

Create a file having semi-colon in it.

Sample Output

The reason for above error, that when you run the above command BASH interpret touch as a command but could not find any file operand before semicolon and hence it reports error. It also reports another error that ‘abc.txt‘ command not found, only because after semicolon BASH was expecting another command and ‘abc.txt‘, is not a command.

To resolve such error, tell BASH not to interpret semicolon as command separator, as:

Note: We have enclosed the file name with single quote » . It tells BASH that ; is a part of file name and not command separator.

Rest of the action (viz., copy, move, delete) on the file and folder having semicolon in its name can be carried out straight forward by enclosing the name in single quote.

Dealing with other special characters in file/folder name

Plus Sign (+) in file name

Don’t requires anything extra, just do it normal way, as simple file name as shown below.

Dollar sign ($) in file name

You have to enclose file name in single quote, as we did in the case of semicolon. Rest of the things are straight forward..

Percent (%) in file name

You don’t need to do anything differently, treat it as normal file.

Asterisk (*) in file name

Having Asterisk in file name don’t change anything and you can continue using it as normal file.

Note: When you have to delete a file that starts with * , Never use following commands to delete such files.

Exclamation mark (!) in file name

Just Enclose the file name in single quote and rest of the things are same.

At Sign (@) in file name

Nothing extra, treat a filename having At Sign as nonrmal file.

^ in file name

No extra attention required. Use a file having ^ in filename as normal file.

Ampersand (&) in file name

Filename should be enclosed in single quotes and you are ready to go.

Parentheses () in file name

If the file name has Parenthesis, you need to enclose filename with single quotes.

Braces <> in file name

No Extra Care needed. Just treat it as just another file.

Chevrons <> in file name

A file name having Chevrons must be enclosed in single quotes.

Square Brackets [ ] in file name

Treat file name having Square Brackets as normal files and you need not take extra care of it.

Under score (_) in file name

They are very common and don’t require anything extra. Just do what you would have done with a normal file.

Equal-to (=) in File name

Having an Equal-to sign do not change anything, you can use it as normal file.

Dealing with back slash (\)

Backslash tells shell to ignore the next character. You have to enclose file name in single quote, as we did in the case of semicolon. Rest of the things are straight forward.

The Special Case of Forward Slash

You cannot create a file the name of which includes a forward slash (/) , until your file system has bug. There is no way to escape a forward slash.

So if you can create a file such as ‘/12.txt’ or ‘b/c.txt’ then either your File System has bug or you have Unicode support, which lets you create a file with forward slash. In this case the forward slash is not a real forward slash but a Unicode character that looks alike a forward slash.

Question Mark (?) in file name

Again, an example where you don’t need to put any special attempt. A file name having Question mark can be treated in the most general way.

Dot Mark (.) in file name

The files starting with dot (.) are very special in Linux and are called dot files. They are hidden files generally a configuration or system files. You have to use switch ‘-a‘ or ‘-A‘ with ls command to view such files.

Creating, editing, renaming and deleting of such files are straight forward.

Note: In Linux you may have as many dots (.) as you need in a file name. Unlike other system dots in file name don’t means to separate name and extension. You can create a file having multiple dots as:

and check it as:

Comma (,) in file name

You can have comma in a file name, as many as you want and you Don’t requires anything extra. Just do it normal way, as simple file name.

Colon (:) in File name

You can have colon in a file name, as many as you want and you Don’t requires anything extra. Just do it normal way, as simple file name.

Having Quotes (single and Double) in file name

To have quotes in file name, we have to use the rule of exchange. I.e, if you need to have single quote in file name, enclose the file name with double quotes and if you need to have double quote in file name, enclose it with single quote.

Tilde (

Some Editors in Linux like emacs create a backup file of the file being edited. The backup file has the name of the original file plus a tilde at the end of the file name. You can have a file that name of which includes tilde, at any location simply as:

White Space in file name

Create a file the name of which has space between character/word, say “hi my name is avishek.txt”.

It is not a good idea to have file name with spaces and if you have to distinct readable name, you should use, underscore or dash. However if you have to create such a file, you have to use backward slash which ignores the next character to it. To create above file we have to do it this way..

I have tried covering all the scenario you may come across. Most of the above implementation are explicitly for BASH Shell and may not work in other shell.

If you feel that I missed something (that is very common and human nature), you may include your suggestion in the comments below. Keep Connected, Keep Commenting. Stay Tuned and connected! Like and share us and help us get spread!

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How to Tackle Filenames With Spaces in Linux

The one thing you’ll notice that files in Linux usually do not contain names. Your teacher or colleague use underscore instead of spaces in file and directory names.

It’s not that you cannot use spaces in file names in Linux terminal. It’s just that it creates additional pain and that’s why you should avoid it wherever possible.

Why? Let me show that with examples. You know the generic syntax for Linux commands:

In here, the arguments are separated by spaces. If you try to use filenames with spaces directly, it will be treated as separate arguments rather than just one argument.

In the above screenshot, when I try to use cat agatha books command, it doesn’t understand that agatha books is a single argument. It treats agatha and books as different filenames.

How do you deal with spaces in filename, then? There are two ways:

Wrap the entire filename between quotes:

Escape every space using backslash key:

I’ll show it in detail.

Read a file with spaces in filename

To use a filename with spaces in it, you can wrap it in quotes like this:

You may also escape every space with backslash but it is more work and more confusing than the previous method:

Basically, you put a \ before every space in the filename.

You could also use single quotes instead of double quotes.

Create a file with space in filename

Now, you need to type space in terminal to create the filename here. Use backslash or quotes again.

Similar to the previous section, you can create new files with spaces in the filename using quotes:

Or the backslash as well:

Dealing with space in folder name

You can create a directory with space in its name the same way you create a file.

Now, if you want to switch to this directory, you’ll have a path with spaces.

But that should not be a problem for you anymore. To cd into a directory with space, use quotes or backslash again.

Basically, whenever you have to deal with spaces in names, you use quotes or backslash keys.

Suppose you have to copy a file my file from this new dir . Here’s what you can do:

Now it starts to get confusing a bit, right? There are backslashes and forward slashes. It could intimidate a new user or even a seasoned one if there are way too many of those slashes.

It gets even messier when there are backslashes in the filename. Then you’ll be seeing double backsplashes.

This is the reason why you should try and avoid using spaces or other special characters in file names. To separate the words in a file name, use underscore.

This makes the filenames easier to read and you won’t have to make the extra effort to deal with those spaces in the filenames.

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