Ruby cannot stat a file with a pound/hash character - ruby

Question

Behold:
bear#ptah:~/Pictures/Wallpapers
$ stat /home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org
File: /home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org -> polar#fennec.3781:1659418908
Size: 28 Blocks: 0 IO Block: 4096 symbolic link
Device: 10306h/66310d Inode: 57016400 Links: 1
Access: (0777/lrwxrwxrwx) Uid: ( 1000/ bear) Gid: ( 1000/ bear)
Access: 2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700
Modify: 2022-08-07 22:25:24.000000000 -0700
Change: 2022-09-23 12:31:49.532216732 -0700
Birth: 2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700
bear#ptah:~/Pictures/Wallpapers
$ stat /home/bear/Dropbox/foo.log
File: /home/bear/Dropbox/foo.log
Size: 1471 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 10306h/66310d Inode: 57016411 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 1000/ bear) Gid: ( 1000/ bear)
Access: 2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700
Modify: 2022-09-10 23:28:04.000000000 -0700
Change: 2022-09-23 12:31:50.116221410 -0700
Birth: 2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700
bear#ptah:~/Pictures/Wallpapers
$ irb
irb(main):001:0> File.stat '/home/bear/Dropbox/foo.log'
=> #<File::Stat dev=0x10306, ino=57016411, mode=0100644, nlink=1, uid=1000, gid=1000, rdev=0x0, size=1471, blksize=4096, blocks=8, atime=2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700, mtime=2022-09-10 23:28:04 -0700, ctime=2022-09-23 12:31:50.11622141 -0700>
irb(main):002:0> File.stat '/home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org'
Traceback (most recent call last):
5: from /usr/bin/irb:23:in `<main>'
4: from /usr/bin/irb:23:in `load'
3: from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/2.7.0/gems/irb-1.2.6/exe/irb:11:in `<top (required)>'
2: from (irb):2
1: from (irb):2:in `stat'
Errno::ENOENT (No such file or directory # rb_file_s_stat - /home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org)
irb(main):003:0>
The filename is simply correct; that is the file and Ruby fails to stat it. Linux can, everything else can. Ruby can stat a file without a hash in it, also. What is needed to render this file usable to Ruby? (No, renaming is not an option; I need to stat the file.)
Note: This is the filename that Dir.glob finds, also. This is the filename that Ruby thinks it has.
irb(main):003:0> x = Dir.glob('Dropbox/*.org', File::FNM_DOTMATCH)
=> ["Dropbox/NineFoxes.org", "Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org", "Dropbox/Elf.org", "Dropbox/Midra.org"]
irb(main):004:0> File.stat(x[0])
=> #<File::Stat dev=0x10306, ino=57016406, mode=0100744, nlink=1, uid=1000, gid=1000, rdev=0x0, size=38102, blksize=4096, blocks=80, atime=2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700, mtime=2022-07-29 22:00:02 -0700, ctime=2022-09-23 12:31:50.11622141 -0700>
irb(main):005:0> File.stat(x[1])
Traceback (most recent call last):
5: from /usr/bin/irb:23:in `<main>'
4: from /usr/bin/irb:23:in `load'
3: from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/2.7.0/gems/irb-1.2.6/exe/irb:11:in `<top (required)>'
2: from (irb):5
1: from (irb):5:in `stat'
Errno::ENOENT (No such file or directory # rb_file_s_stat - Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org)
irb(main):006:0> File.stat(x[2])
=> #<File::Stat dev=0x10306, ino=57016408, mode=0100644, nlink=1, uid=1000, gid=1000, rdev=0x0, size=8416, blksize=4096, blocks=24, atime=2022-09-23 12:31:49.280214712 -0700, mtime=2022-09-19 18:08:32 -0700, ctime=2022-09-23 12:31:50.120221442 -0700>
irb(main):007:0>
Additional: This is Linux, MX Linux 21, ruby 2.7.4p191 (2021-07-07 revision a21a3b7d23) [x86_64-linux-gnu]. The shell is Bash.

Answer 1

File.stat just calls File::Stat.new and that will raise an exception if the file doesn't exist; this is the behaviour you're seeing.
Note that /home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org is a symlink (see the Access: 0777/lrwxrwxrwx in stat's output). Ruby's File.stat documentation doesn't say if it follows symlinks or not but File.lstat says:
Same as File::stat, but does not follow the last symbolic link. Instead, reports on the link itself.
so it is implied that File.stat will follow the symlink and stat what it points to.
So the /home/bear/Dropbox/.#NineFoxes.org symlink does exist but what the symlink references doesn't exist.