Linux filenames

I did a strange thing today.

Code:

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mv myfile.zip mydir#

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Notice the hash symbol after my directory name. It hasn't created a directory, however I can view the contents of the zip file within the 'non directory' by using midnight commander.

I cant find an explaination(googling) of what the hash does within a linux filename.

Im using Bash. Can anyone help?

The hash symbol (or pound sign) has no special meaning in Linux filenames. It's just another character that can be used in filenames like the dash (-) or underscore (_).

when I try to cd to the directory I get an error...

Code:

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bash: cd: mydir#: Not a directory

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I can only open the directory in midnight commander. Why does it have this affect if it has no special meaning within a filename?

You basically just renamed myfile.zip to mydir# it never was or is a directory. It's still the same data, you just renamed it. If you want to change it back: mv mydir# myfile.zip
If you can open it in a file browser, I think what you are seeing is the actual zip files.

Lol!

Now I see!! I spent a good hour googling that :) Now I can get on with what I was actually doing!

Cheers!

To be more concrete, '#' might or might not have an special meaning.

It has nothing to do with this issue, which was purely a confussion. But under some circumstances this character has a special meaning in bash.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bash man page

In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the interac‐
tive_comments option to the shopt builtin is enabled (see SHELL BUILTIN COM‐
MANDS below), a word beginning with # causes that word and all remaining
characters on that line to be ignored. An interactive shell without the
interactive_comments option enabled does not allow comments. The interac‐
tive_comments option is on by default in interactive shells.

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