For 'ls -l' I get following ls: 1412673874.2280_2.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS: No such file or directory ls: 1412673874.2280_4.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S: No such file or directory ls: 1412845014.9888_5.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S: No such file or directory ls: 1412673874.2280_3.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS: No such file or directory ls: 1412845014.9888_6.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S: No such file or directory ls: 1412673874.2280_1.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2,: No such file or directory total 9216 -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 114671 Oct 7 2014 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 2879988 Oct 7 2014 1412673874.2280_1.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412673874.2280_1.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 9336 Oct 7 2014 1412673874.2280_2.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412673874.2280_2.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 10410 Oct 7 2014 1412673874.2280_3.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412673874.2280_3.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 8768 Oct 7 2014 1412673874.2280_4.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412673874.2280_4.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 17571 Oct 9 2014 1412845014.9888_5.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412845014.9888_5.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S:2, -rwxr-xr-x. 1 ucbtnth users 8599 Oct 9 2014 1412845014.9888_6.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S -rwx------. 1 ucbtnth users 0 Apr 24 11:14 1412845014.9888_6.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,S:2, -------------------------------------------------- For cat on a 0 or normal sized file I get the following % cat 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS\:2, cat: 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2,: No such file or directory % cat 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS cat: 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS: No such file or directory -------------------------------------------------- For rm on a 0 or normal sized file I get the following % rm 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS rm: remove regular file ‘1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS’? y rm: cannot remove ‘1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS’: No such file or directory % rm 1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2, rm: cannot remove ‘1412673873.2280_0.mk1pct173148.biochem.ucl.ac.uk:2,RS:2,’: No such file or directory