While typing commands on a unix system, removing a miss-typed character by the backspace writes down a character ^H instead. To remove a character, you must use Ctrl+BackSpace instead. However, this exercise is quite frustrating for the users. To get rid of this, use stty erase command as demonstrated below:
root@mms1 # ls -l^H^H^H^H
ls: illegal option —
ls: illegal option —
ls: illegal option —
ls: illegal option —
usage: ls -1RaAdCxmnlogrtucpFbqisfL [files]
root@mms1 #
root@mms1 #
root@mms1 #
root@mms1 #
root@mms1 # stty erase ^H
root@mms1 #
root@mms1 #
With this command, your life would be much easier. You can also get rid of this by using bash instead. For me, its even a better option.