Remove a file/directory starting with dash/hyphen

I just noticed that in the /root directory, there exists a directory with its name starting with a dash: -p in my FreeBSD box.

root@raspbsd:~ # ls -l
total 144
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    512 May  5 18:26 -p
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    512 May  5 20:45 .byobu
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel    512 May  5 20:45 .cache
-rw-r--r--  2 root  wheel    959 Jan 23 00:59 .cshrc

As much as I wanted to get rid of it, I was curious to find out what’s inside that directory.

root@raspbsd:~ # cd -p/
Usage: cd [-plvn][-|...

That didn’t work. After a short while of trying many things, I figured out 2 ways to do it.

root@raspbsd:~ # cd \-p
root@raspbsd:~/-p # 

Another way (1) is to add ‘./’ in front of it:

root@raspbsd:~ # cd ./-p
root@raspbsd:~/-p #

Finally, after confirming that the ‘-p’ hold no file, it can be deleted as:

# rmdir ./-p

Notice that, # rmdir \-p does not work though. I should have put a disclaimer on the top. I only tested this on FreeBSD, but it should also work on Linux. If you decide to follow my instruction to remove any files on your system, do it cautiously. I will not be responsible for your action ^_^.

Reference: (1) http://www.electrictoolbox.com/delete-file-starting-with-dash-hyphen/