cd to directory starting with '-' dash [duplicate]

Question

I'm learning Git and my very first task is to navigate to a directory where my project will live. Unfortunately, my primary folder for my documents has the following form - folder1 - for sorting purposes, and each time I enter;

cd - folder1 -

I receive the error;

bash: cd: too many arguments

After searching for a solution I have tried;

cd -- folder1 -
cd ./- folder1 -
cd .- folder1 -
cd /- folder1 -

and even changing the directory to the parent directory and trying a longer path but this doesn't work either

cd ..
cd parent/- folder1 -

Answer 1

As a rule of thumb, if your filenames have spaces or special chars like $ put them in single or double quotes. As another rule of thumb, if one of your arguments starts with a - and your command is interpreting it as an option instead of a filename (an option like the -n in in echo -n myfile) then you need to put a -- as an argument to your command.

So to solve your problem try this:

cd "- folder1 -"

If cd continues to think your folder name is an option, then do this:

cd -- "- folder1 -"