Windows – How to get rid of folder containing just three dots […] (pointing to its parent folder)

filesystemsntfsrecursionwindows

On a (German) Server 2008 we found a folder with the name G:\Daten\Büro_GL\...

When entering the folder ... in windows explorer it just points back to its parent folder (G:\Daten\Büro_GL).

The folder can't be deleted, because it would delete also every subfolder. Also denying List folder content only for This folder doesn't work. The deny then is applied to the parent folder, too.

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The folder […] is a folder and not a symbolic link:

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We would like to avoid moving the content of the folder, to not to interrupt the workflow on the productive system.

(I'm also keen to know how such a folder could be created)

Best Answer

SOLVED

I just accidentally created a folder with 3 dots. ....

I just tried to build my angular application like this:

ng build --outputpath=.../public

A regular windows command wouldn't delete it.

I just realized that, if ng cli command can create the folder, it can delete it too.

I just made an intentional error in my code and executed the same command.

Boom - the folder was gone.

This might help someone.

More info for non angular users

  1. install npm and go to the path where you have the ... file

  2. Then npm install -g @angular/cli

  3. ng new mockproject. This will create the mockproject folder in your path.

  4. Edit the package.json and add to the "build" line --outputpath=.../public

  5. Copy everything in the mockproject folder to where you have the ...

  6. Edit app.module.ts and add some garbage characters there (making an error in the project)

  7. npm run build. This will give you an error.

Now you don't have the ... folder.


Background: I think the ng uses posix - so, it can create these system-like files. I guess any posix tool like sygwin can remove these files.

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