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Filenames with spaces can be worked with in a couple different ways:
$ less filename\ with\ spacesor
$ touch 'filename with spaces'or
$ touch "filename with spaces"
In the first example the escape character (\) is used, e.g.
$ cd /media/Stuff/My\ Data/same as,
$ cd /media/Stuff/"My Data"
In this rare occurrence, you simply wrap the filename with the opposite (single or double) quotation!
$ touch "05'.txt"and
$ touch '05".txt'rm ./-iputadashinthefoldernameOther
Other special characters such as ? or # can be dealt with similarly to working with spaces, using the escape character to change the interpretation.
UNIX shell metacharacters
| > | Output redirection |
| >> | Output redirection (append) |
| < | Input redirection |
| * | File substitution wildcard; zero or more characters |
| ? | File substitution wildcard; one character |
| [ ] | File substitution wildcard; any character between brackets |
| `cmd` | Command substitution |
| $(cmd) | Command substitution |
| | | Pipe (|) |
| ; | Command sequence, sequences of commands |
| || | OR conditional execution |
| && | AND conditional execution |
| ( ) | Group commands, sequences of commands |
| & | Run command in the background, background processes |
| # | Comment |
| $ | Expand the value of a variable |
| \ | Prevent or escape interpretation of the next character |
<< | Input redirection |
stderr and stdout redirection
$ command 2> file
Redirect stdout and stderr to the same file:
$ command > file 2>&1
Redirect stdout and stderr to different files:
$ command > file 2> errors
Escaped characters
| \NNN | The character whose ASCII code is NNN (octal) |
| \ \ | Backslash |
| \a | Alert (bel) |
| \b | Backspace |
| \c | Suppress trailing newline |
| \f | Form feed |
| \n | New line |
| \r | Carriage return |
| \t | Horizontal tab |
| \v | Vertical tab |
Further reading
Reserved Characters and Words
Fixing Unix/Linux/POSIX Filenames: Control Characters (such as Newline), Leading Dashes, and Other Problems
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