How to Safely Delete Files Starting with a Dash in Linux

First, notice the two special files whose names start with a dash.

[root@node_119 test]# ll
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug  3 08:59 -rf *
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug  3 09:00 -test

These files cannot be removed with the usual rm command because the leading dash is interpreted as an option.

[root@node_119 test]# rm '-rf *'
rm: invalid option -- ' '
Try 'rm ./'-rf *'' to remove the file ‘-rf *’.
Try 'rm --help' for more information.
[root@node_119 test]# rm -rf\ \*
rm: invalid option -- ' '
Try 'rm ./'-rf *'' to remove the file ‘-rf *’.
Try 'rm --help' for more information.

To delete them, prepend -- before the filename to signal the end of options.

[root@node_119 test]# rm -rf -- '-rf *'
[root@node_119 test]# rm -rf -- -test
[root@node_119 test]# ll
total 0

Both files are now removed.

Source: Linux Command Manual