Deleting files with "illegal characters"

Last modified on July 24, 2026 • 1 min read • 146 words In the cross-platform environment of our university, at least three different OS connect to the smb shared group directories. Apparently Macs are able to save files with characters that are not allowed on other platforms and which cannot be easily deleted. Recently we had several files which ended with a ‘.’ (dot) or a ’ ’ (space), and we were not able to remove them via the GUI. In Windows 7, I managed via the command line with:delete "file." ordelete "file "I have, however, not found a way to so from my Ubuntu machine and it is annoying to boot into Windows merely to delete some files. Unfortunately, this became necessary because the Cloudberry  backup system (which is running on Ubuntu) chokes on such files. I am looking into a new backup system for our lab’s computers since CrashPlan  decided to discontinue support for non-business customers…