Frustrating 'feature'

[Meyer, Duane]

Dear gnu-bug-person,

I have managed to create a file that begins with '-r' and contains several other '-'(dash) characters throughout. I've tried every way I know to move it or rename it or even cat it. No amount of quoting or escaping makes mv, cp, or cat (all gnu) happy. Each one complains about one switch or another being invalid. Why, if I enclose the thing in double quotes, single quotes, spackle it with '\' escapes, would the program try to read the first two characters as anything other than part of the name?

Regards,
Duane Meyer
Systems Programmer
AGEdwards and Sons Inc.
address@hidden

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