Single quotation marks suddenly appear around file and directory names - eviltoast

I installed some software and I think afterwards I was navigating through CLI and noticed that some directories or some files in some directories had single quotation marks around the names. They don’t appear in the GUI. How do I get rid of them? Do I have to use a recursive command to delete the quotation marks for the entire file system?

I’ve actually had this problem a few times in the past but cannot recall why they happen nor what the solution was.

  • phx@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    That’s to escape the space, so that it doesn’t register as a separate keyword in whatever command you’re running.

    For paths/filenames with spaces, you must escape all spaces with the backslash, or use single/double quotes around it. Single quotes also prevent stuff like interpreting $ etc etc as a reference to a variable