Re: dired-do-rename on "." and ".."

[Markus Rost]

   If one has a bunch of marked files including . and .. , I am
   personally not even really sure what the result of R , C , S , H , and
   some others _ought_ to be. These commands would operate on different
   levels of the directory tree, with potentially confusing results.

You are right.  It seems to me now that I never used "S" on ".".
Sorry for the misleading remark.

   If all you want to do is operate on . , you can do ^ first, which has
   the advantage that you do not even need to be on the "correct line".
   To operate on .. , one can do ^^ first.

That's what I usually do, if the operation on "." fails.

So I agree, it is better not operate on "." "..".