cat `-q` file (in linux) - passing operands that look like options

Question

I have a file whose name is -q (It looks like this is made by accident)

I want to see it’s content, so I tried these

$ cat '-q'
$ cat "-q"
$ cat $'-q'

But nothing worked.(All gives same error cat: invalid option -- 'q')

Is there any way to see it’s content?

Answer 1

to create a file named -q do

touch -- "-q"

and to view its contents

cat -- '-q' # Used single quotes to treat anything inside as literal characters

should do it. -- means what follows should be treated as a positional parameter.

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^{Pls take time to look at @rici's [ answer ] which reminds some substle aspects regarding single vs double quotes.}