Punctuation marks in file names
in [Mac Systems]
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From: Steven Fisher on 18 Jan 2010 11:36 In article <00332c73$0$2232$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > If you have a file that contains a $, you can't simply copy > MY$PAYCHECK.PDF and then paste it in a command line environment because > the "$" has significance in the command line, and you will have to edit > the command to MY\$PAYCHECK.PDF before pressing return to process the > command. When a name contains one or more spaces, you need to enclose it > in quotes etc. Which is only "difficult" if you don't drag and drop OR autocomplete, both of which escape the file name automatically. Steve
From: Barry Margolin on 18 Jan 2010 15:24 In article <00332c73$0$2232$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > Barry Margolin wrote: > > > There are 3 OSes in common use these days: Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac > > OS X. I think 67% of them allow that filename. > > "allow" is one thing. > Easy to use is another. > > If you have a file that contains a $, you can't simply copy > MY$PAYCHECK.PDF and then paste it in a command line environment because > the "$" has significance in the command line, and you will have to edit > the command to MY\$PAYCHECK.PDF before pressing return to process the > command. When a name contains one or more spaces, you need to enclose it > in quotes etc. Since the CLI isn't the normal environment for 2/3 of the operating systems, I didn't consider that to be an issue. -- Barry Margolin, barmar(a)alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***
From: Barry Margolin on 18 Jan 2010 15:26 In article <1jcjf3e.1ocpkspyuvn6sN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>, dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote: > Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: > > > In article <hj0o4e$ui3$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > > Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: > > > > > Barry Margolin wrote: > > > > shine <useraddshine-nospam(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > It's not uncommon to include dates in filenames. E.g. "Expenses > > > > 1/16/2010". > > > > > > Since the format you suggest is not allowed > > > by 99% of the operating systems in use today, > > > I would say it is very "uncommon." > > > > There are 3 OSes in common use these days: Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac > > OS X. I think 67% of them allow that filename. > > 33% (ignoring market share), and even then it depends where you are > using it. More like 5% if you take market/usage share into account. > > "/" is not valid in Unix/Linux filenames as it is the pathname > separator. > > "/" is not valid in Windows filenames as it can be used as a pathname > separator and is used by many tools to indicate an option parameter. You > can't store ":" on Windows file systems either - it is the separator > between the drive letter and pathname. Doesn't the GUI hide these limitations? I don't care about the CLI, that's not the normal use of Windows or Mac OS. -- Barry Margolin, barmar(a)alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***
From: David Empson on 18 Jan 2010 17:16 Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: > In article <1jcjf3e.1ocpkspyuvn6sN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>, > dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote: > > > Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: > > > > > In article <hj0o4e$ui3$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > > > Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: > > > > > > > Barry Margolin wrote: > > > > > shine <useraddshine-nospam(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > It's not uncommon to include dates in filenames. E.g. "Expenses > > > > > 1/16/2010". > > > > > > > > Since the format you suggest is not allowed > > > > by 99% of the operating systems in use today, > > > > I would say it is very "uncommon." > > > > > > There are 3 OSes in common use these days: Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac > > > OS X. I think 67% of them allow that filename. > > > > 33% (ignoring market share), and even then it depends where you are > > using it. More like 5% if you take market/usage share into account. > > > > "/" is not valid in Unix/Linux filenames as it is the pathname > > separator. > > > > "/" is not valid in Windows filenames as it can be used as a pathname > > separator and is used by many tools to indicate an option parameter. You > > can't store ":" on Windows file systems either - it is the separator > > between the drive letter and pathname. > > Doesn't the GUI hide these limitations? I don't care about the CLI, > that's not the normal use of Windows or Mac OS. No. In Windows GUI applications, if you use a forward slash it is treated as a backslash (pathname separator) by some applications and is rejected as a syntax error by others. If you try to put a colon in the middle of a pathname it is a syntax error. You can't use any of the other reserved characters either. The full list of reserved characters is: \ / : * ? " < > | Asterisk and question mark are treated as wildcards in some GUI contexts. The others are simply rejected outright. Microsoft has a knowledge base article which explains the above for Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 but I can't find anything official which covers more recent operating systems. From an experiment and evidence from other web sites, XP has the same restrictions. I don't have access to Vista or Windows 7 but haven't seen any comments to suggest the rules have changed. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177506/en-us For Unix/Linux GUIs, '/' is treated as a pathname separator, and other characters can be used without restriction. Some applications might have problems with special shell characters (the list above apart from colon and forward slash) if they simply pass a pathname to the shell without preprocessing it to escape the special characters. -- David Empson dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: Wes Groleau on 18 Jan 2010 22:00
Barry Margolin wrote: > There are 3 OSes in common use these days: Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac > OS X. I think 67% of them allow that filename. Two out of three O.S. families allow a slash in a filename? Really? -- Wes Groleau Nutrition for Blokes: Re-engineering your diet for life http://www.phlaunt.com/quentin |