Deleting files by inode #

 1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # idelete.sh: Deleting a file by its inode number.
   3
   4 #  This is useful when a filename starts with an illegal character,
   5 #+ such as ? or -.
   6
   7 ARGCOUNT=1                      # Filename arg must be passed to script.
   8 E_WRONGARGS=70
   9 E_FILE_NOT_EXIST=71
  10 E_CHANGED_MIND=72
  11
  12 if [ $# -ne "$ARGCOUNT" ]
  13 then
  14   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename"
  15   exit $E_WRONGARGS
  16 fi
  17
  18 if [ ! -e "$1" ]
  19 then
  20   echo "File \""$1"\" does not exist."
  21   exit $E_FILE_NOT_EXIST
  22 fi
  23
  24 inum=`ls -i | grep "$1" | awk '{print $1}'`
  25 # inum = inode (index node) number of file
  26 # Every file has an inode, a record that hold its physical address info.
  27
  28 echo; echo -n "Are you absolutely sure you want to delete \"$1\" (y/n)? "
  29 # The '-v' option to 'rm' also asks this.
  30 read answer
  31 case "$answer" in
  32 [nN]) echo "Changed your mind, huh?"
  33       exit $E_CHANGED_MIND
  34       ;;
  35 *)    echo "Deleting file \"$1\".";;
  36 esac
  37
  38 find . -inum $inum -exec rm {} \;
  39 echo "File "\"$1"\" deleted!"
  40
  41 exit 0