Using wildcards in the CLI

You can use wildcards in the system command-line interface (CLI).

The CLI supports the use of the asterisk character (*) as a wildcard within the arguments of certain parameters. There are some behavioral issues that must be considered when using wildcards in order to prevent unexpected results. These behavioral issues and the ways to avoid them are as follows:
  1. Running the command while logged onto the node.

    The shell will attempt to interpret any of the special characters if they are not escaped (preceded with a backslash character). Wildcards will be expanded into a list of files if any files exist that match the wildcards. If no matching files exist, the wildcard is passed to the system command untouched.

    To prevent expansion, issue the following command in one of its formats:

    cleardumps -prefix '/dumps/*.txt' with single quotation marks
    (''), or

    cleardumps -prefix /dumps/\*.txt using a backslash (\), or

    cleardumps -prefix "/dumps/*.txt" with double quotation marks
    ("").

  2. Running the command through Secure Shell (SSH), for example from a host.

    This method is slightly more complicated because the host shell processes the command line before it is passed through SSH to the shell on the system. This means an extra layer of protection is required around the wildcard as the host shell will strip off any protecting quotes, and if the wildcard is exposed to the system shell, this will result in the wildcard being expanded in the system shell.

    To prevent expansion, issue the following command in one of its formats:

    cleardumps "'/dumps/*.txt'" with single quotation marks ('')
    inside of double quotation marks (""), or

    cleardumps '/dumps/\*.txt' using a backslash (\) inside of
    single quotation marks (''),  or

    cleardumps '"/dumps/*.txt"' with double quotation marks ("")
    inside of single quotation marks ('').