How to create a directory named '-p' under Linux with Bash?

Question

In Bash, how could I create a directory named -p?

mkdir -p failed.
mkdir "-p" failed.
mkdir "\-p" failed.
mkdir \-p failed.

Note that all of these are attempting to escape the parameter for bash. Since it's the same escaped as not escaped, all of these except the third will just send the string "-p" to mkdir, which will parse it as an option. The option parsing isn't done in bash, so any way around this (described in the answers below) is a feature of mkdir (or rather, a lack of bug). — Score_Under, Apr 07 '14 at 11:40
Gotta ask why you'd want such a directory. It would be a PITA to use. — Daniel R Hicks, Apr 07 '14 at 11:44
@DanielRHicks: I created this folder by mistake, but do not know how to delete it. — Jichao, Apr 07 '14 at 14:19
Shouldn't, then, the question be "How to delete a directory named '-p' under Linux with Bash"? — chepner, Apr 07 '14 at 16:15
@chepner: Because they are same problems actually. I tried to delete the directory with `rmdir` but failed with same errors. — Jichao, Apr 07 '14 at 16:41

slhck · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-07T09:51:24.550

40

Most utilities (all POSIX compliant ones except for test and echo) support an "end of options" option --, so you could run:

mkdir -- -p

This is especially useful when renaming or removing files that could potentially start with a dash. In scripts you should always use

mv -- "$filename"

instead of a plain mv "$filename" or, even worse, an unquoted filename.

edited Apr 07 '14 at 09:51

answered Apr 07 '14 at 08:38

slhck

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 07 '14 at 08:27

18

mkdir ./-p

Keep in mind that most other programs would need to use the same "trick".

answered Apr 07 '14 at 08:27

Daniel B

2 Answers2