🏗️🔧：stop a filename being read as an option

[DerekNonGeneric]

Follow-on from #888, found while sweeping the portal for the same class
of bug after a review there. Quoting a filename settles what the shell
does with it and nothing about what the tool then makes of it.

quote('--write.md') produces '--write.md'. The shell strips the
quotes and prettier receives --write.md, which it reads as an option:

$ prettier --check '--write.md' 'ok.md'
[error] Cannot read properties of null (reading 'md')
$ echo $?
0

Exit 0. A check that passed having checked nothing, which is worse
than one that failed — verify.md would go green while quietly
processing neither file.

The fix

A leading ./ says the argument is a path. Two characters, and only on
the names that need them; an ordinary or absolute path is untouched.

Demonstrated end to end

A file called --write.md holding deliberately bad Markdown:

	result
before	[error] Cannot read properties of null, task exits 0
after	[warn] --write.md from prettier, and MD019/no-multiple-space-atx from markdownlint

So the file is genuinely checked rather than silently skipped.

Why it is worth doing at all

verify.filenames would reject such a name — but as #900 explains, it is
one task among the rest and a failing one does not stop the others being
handed what it just objected to. A filename is input chosen by whoever
opens the pull request, and it turned out to have two ways of mattering
rather than one.

The portal needs the same change; I will fold it into
openinf.github.io#1881,
which is where its copy of quote() lives.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Improved handling of file paths beginning with -, ensuring command-line tools interpret them as paths rather than options.
  • Preserved existing behavior for ordinary relative and absolute paths.

• Tests

  • Added coverage for option-like filenames, including --write.md and -.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Team

Run ID: 3f6f151e-4ff0-429f-a810-ea87095950b8

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 90f87d8 and cc07c50.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• build/utils.mts
• build/utils.test.mts

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 8 included reviews per hour; 5 remain after this review.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The quote function now prefixes paths that begin with - with ./ before shell escaping. Tests cover option-like filenames and confirm unchanged behavior for ordinary relative and absolute paths.

Changes

Shell Path Quoting

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Quote normalization and validation build/utils.mts, build/utils.test.mts	quote prefixes dash-prefixed paths with ./ before applying shell escaping. Tests cover option-like, relative, and absolute paths.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~5 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to cc07c

Dash-prefixed relative filenames are now passed as paths rather than options, while normal and absolute paths retain their existing behavior. The change is covered and ready to merge.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main change: preventing filenames from being interpreted as command-line options. The emojis add noise but do not obscure the meaning.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 2…
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch infra/quote-option-lookalikes

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