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    Can't Change to Directory in Ubuntu

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    • coliverC
      coliver
      last edited by coliver

      Have you tried using cd against the entire path? Or the parent path? either

       cd ../folder/-.MP3.-
      

      or

       cd /parentfoldertree/-.MP3.-
      

      Or you could try it with absolute quotes

       cd '-.MP3.-'
      
      thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • thanksajdotcomT
        thanksajdotcom @coliver
        last edited by thanksajdotcom

        @coliver said:

        Have you tried using cd against the entire path? Or the parent path? either

         cd ../folder/-.MP3.-
        

        Or you could try it with absolute quotes

         cd '-.MP3.-'
        

        Tried it with the quotes. That didn't work. If I go up a level and then do this, it works as well...

        cd Music/-.MP3.-
        

        Thanks for the suggestion!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • coliverC
          coliver
          last edited by

          Tab completion may also have made this easier. Not sure though.

          thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • lanceL
            lance @thanksajdotcom
            last edited by

            @thanksajdotcom said:

            Ok, got it! Syntax is as follows:

            cd -- -.MP3.-
            

            Thanks!

            Awesome! I knew it was something like that... It's been awhile since I ran into that.

            thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • thanksajdotcomT
              thanksajdotcom @coliver
              last edited by

              @coliver said:

              Tab completion may also have made this easier. Not sure though.

              Nope, it didn't. Tried that too.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • thanksajdotcomT
                thanksajdotcom @lance
                last edited by

                @lance said:

                @thanksajdotcom said:

                Ok, got it! Syntax is as follows:

                cd -- -.MP3.-
                

                Thanks!

                Awesome! I knew it was something like that... It's been awhile since I ran into that.

                Yeah, the file structure was originally designed to be accessed under Windows and I'd just never navigated to these directories under Linux until today. They still read the files inside fine. Just changing to it was a bit wonky. Lol

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • tonyshowoffT
                  tonyshowoff
                  last edited by tonyshowoff

                  Also you can use backslashes, and in fact that's the more "proper" way to escape the characters.

                  cd \-.MP3.\-
                  

                  ...for example. Quotes may work slightly differently, or not at all, depending on what you're doing, so maybe get used to escaping things the other way. You can also make this behaviour happen automagically by hitting tab to autocomplete with some shells and it will auto escape required characters.

                  thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • thanksajdotcomT
                    thanksajdotcom @tonyshowoff
                    last edited by

                    @tonyshowoff said:

                    Also you can use backslashes, and in fact that's the more "proper" way to escape the characters.

                    cd \-.MP3.\-
                    

                    ...for example. Quotes may work slightly differently, or not at all, depending on what you're doing, so maybe get used to escaping things the other way. You can also make this behaviour happen automagically by hitting tab to autocomplete with some shells and it will auto escape required characters.

                    I tried that. That didn't work either.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • thanksajdotcomT
                      thanksajdotcom
                      last edited by

                      The two solutions are either...

                      cd Music/-.MP3.-
                      cd -- -.MP3.-
                      

                      Thanks,
                      A.J.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • tonyshowoffT
                        tonyshowoff
                        last edited by tonyshowoff

                        My fault, I forgot files starting with a hyphen are treated completely differently, but you can do this:

                        anton@c0:~$ mkdir -- -.MP3.-
                        anton@c0:~$ cd -- -.MP3.-
                        anton@c0:~/-.MP3.-$
                        

                        Or even

                        anton@c0:~$ mkdir ./-.MP3.-
                        anton@c0:~$ cd ./-.MP3.-
                        anton@c0:~/-.MP3.-$
                        

                        So you need not navigate from parent at all, you can do it from the working directory itself. Navigating from parent seems painful, but parents usually are a pain.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • tonyshowoffT
                          tonyshowoff
                          last edited by

                          Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

                          thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • thanksajdotcomT
                            thanksajdotcom @tonyshowoff
                            last edited by

                            @tonyshowoff said:

                            Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

                            I didn't have any Linux systems connected to it when I named all these and I don't really have a reason, it's just how I named it at the time. I think these directories were originally part of a larger folder structure so I started the name with a dash to put them at the top and also so all the format folders would be grouped together.

                            ? scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • thanksajdotcomT
                              thanksajdotcom
                              last edited by thanksajdotcom

                              See examples:

                              root@jump-server:<path removed># ls
                              Amazon MP3  iTunes   -.MP3.-         Playlists  Unsorted Output
                              Archive     -.OGG.-  _SYNCAPP   	 -.WAV.-    -.FLAC.-
                              -.M4A.-     Picard Plugins  Temp     -.WMA.-
                              

                              upload-f5d241e6-b0b7-463e-a821-4f79efa6684d

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ?
                                A Former User @thanksajdotcom
                                last edited by

                                @thanksajdotcom said:

                                @tonyshowoff said:

                                Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

                                I didn't have any Linux systems connected to it when I named all these and I don't really have a reason, it's just how I named it at the time. I think these directories were originally part of a larger folder structure so I started the name with a dash to put them at the top and also so all the format folders would be grouped together.

                                On Any OS that doesn't really make any sense. Underscores are normally used instead of spaces. but, a hyphen and period in a folder is a bit of a no-no.

                                tonyshowoffT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • tonyshowoffT
                                  tonyshowoff @A Former User
                                  last edited by

                                  @thecreativeone91 said:

                                  On Any OS that doesn't really make any sense. Underscores are normally used instead of spaces. but, a hyphen and period in a folder is a bit of a no-no.

                                  That or on shared space what we do is just put a ! in front of the name

                                  !mp3
                                  !ogg
                                  !wave
                                  

                                  This top sorts and and sets it apart and doesn't really break anything, though you do have to escape when cding to it when not using Windows, but that's easy and auto-tabbed. I mean I get prefixing the file name, but why with a period as well? And also why post fix it with another dot and period?

                                  thanksajdotcomT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • thanksajdotcomT
                                    thanksajdotcom @tonyshowoff
                                    last edited by

                                    @tonyshowoff said:

                                    @thecreativeone91 said:

                                    On Any OS that doesn't really make any sense. Underscores are normally used instead of spaces. but, a hyphen and period in a folder is a bit of a no-no.

                                    That or on shared space what we do is just put a ! in front of the name

                                    !mp3
                                    !ogg
                                    !wave
                                    

                                    This top sorts and and sets it apart and doesn't really break anything, though you do have to escape when cding to it when not using Windows, but that's easy and auto-tabbed. I mean I get prefixing the file name, but why with a period as well? And also why post fix it with another dot and period?

                                    It's just what I did at the time and I've never changed it. Never had a reason to until now. Still, it works and as long as I know what I have to do to get into it if I have to, I'm fine.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller @thanksajdotcom
                                      last edited by

                                      @thanksajdotcom said:

                                      @tonyshowoff said:

                                      Why is this directory named something so bizarre, by the way?

                                      I didn't have any Linux systems connected to it when I named all these and I don't really have a reason, it's just how I named it at the time. I think these directories were originally part of a larger folder structure so I started the name with a dash to put them at the top and also so all the format folders would be grouped together.

                                      Best practice for life in general - don't use weird, pointless, filesystem-specific "allowances" in file names. There is no benefit but it ads risk. Even for home use, don't create the practice or habit.

                                      I don't even use caps or spaces in file names!

                                      dafyreD ? 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • dafyreD
                                        dafyre @scottalanmiller
                                        last edited by dafyre

                                        @scottalanmiller said:

                                        Best practice for life in general - don't use weird, pointless, filesystem-specific "allowances" in file names. There is no benefit but it ads risk. Even for home use, don't create the practice or habit.

                                        Agreed! Except I like to use caps and spaces in my file names (no puncuation!)... If I need to open it or work on it from the CLI, then I just enclose the file name in quotes...

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                                        • ?
                                          A Former User @scottalanmiller
                                          last edited by A Former User

                                          @scottalanmiller said:

                                          I don't even use caps or spaces in file names!

                                          Same. everyone thinks I'm odd for doing folder_name or file_name.ext

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                          • s.hacklemanS
                                            s.hackleman
                                            last edited by

                                            Story time! I learned this lesson a really hard way. Right after I graduated high school one of the largest companies in town was hiring for a C# developer and a Friend of mine was all ready working there. I thought I had it in the bag, the interview went great, I met with the director of the department. I just had one final piece, go home and spend less than an hour or two writing a program that did XY & Z. So I headed home, and started writing code. However I couldn't get my debugger to connect to my project. I tried all night, this was my first attempt at programming outside of a school environment, So I ended up having to write and debug a small project by double clicking the .exe and putting tons of message boxes in the code to pop up constantly with variable values to step through the entire project. The next day I emailed in an ugly buggy mess, and was turned down for the job.

                                            The reason it was all a mess is my Windows User name had an ‘&’ in it, and it was messing up the directory to the project for Visual Studio and the debugger.

                                            End the end, I ended up getting the same job 7 years later (2014) and the guy that interviewed me still works as a contractor around here. We have talked about it, and had a good laugh. I ended up getting staying at my old job, learned a ton and met all the people on here. It all worked out in the end.

                                            Here is the other lesson to take away from this for the younger group on here. I never blamed my computer, Windows, God, life, or anyone else. It was my fault, I didn’t know it at the time, but I made the user name. I learned from it, I got better with my skills, and eventually another spot opened up around here, and I got it.

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