File naming rules

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File naming rules – A file name has two parts primary name and extension. 8.3 file name convention is used i.e. <8 characters for filename>.<3 chars for extension>.  But special characters can not be used in file name as \ / : * ? ” < > |

8.3 filenames have at most eight characters, optionally followed by a period “.” and a filename extension of at most three characters. For files with no extension, the “.” if present has no significance (that is “myfile” and “myfile.” are equivalent). File and directory names are uppercase, although systems that use the 8.3 standard are usually case-insensitive.

VFAT, a variant of FAT with an extended directory format, was introduced in Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.5. It allowed mixed-case Unicode long filenames (LFNs) in addition to classic 8.3 names.

To maintain backward-compatibility with legacy applications (on DOS and Windows 3.1), an 8.3 filename is automatically generated for every LFN, through which the file can still be renamed, deleted or opened. The 8.3 filename can be obtained using the Kernel32.dll function GetShortPathName.

–wikipedia

File and Directory Names

All file systems follow the same general naming conventions for an individual file: a base file name and an optional extension, separated by a period. However, each file system, such as NTFS, CDFS, exFAT, UDFS, FAT, and FAT32, can have specific and differing rules about the formation of the individual components in the path to a directory or file. Note that a directory is simply a file with a special attribute designating it as a directory, but otherwise must follow all the same naming rules as a regular file. Because the term directory simply refers to a special type of file as far as the file system is concerned, some reference material will use the general term file to encompass both concepts of directories and data files as such. Because of this, unless otherwise specified, any naming or usage rules or examples for a file should also apply to a directory. The term path refers to one or more directories, backslashes, and possibly a volume name.

Character count limitations can also be different and can vary depending on the file system and path name prefix format used. This is further complicated by support for backward compatibility mechanisms. For example, the older MS-DOS FAT file system supports a maximum of 8 characters for the base file name and 3 characters for the extension, for a total of 12 characters including the dot separator. This is commonly known as an 8.3 file name. The Windows FAT and NTFS file systems are not limited to 8.3 file names, because they have long file name support, but they still support the 8.3 version of long file names.
Naming Conventions

The following fundamental rules enable applications to create and process valid names for files and directories, regardless of the file system:

The following reserved characters:

• Use a period to separate the base file name from the extension in the name of a directory or file.
• Use a backslash (\) to separate the components of a path. The backslash divides the file name from the path to it, and one directory name from another directory name in a path. You cannot use a backslash in the name for the actual file or directory because it is a reserved character that separates the names into components.
• Use a backslash as required as part of volume names, for example, the “C:\” in “C:\path\file” or the “\\server\share” in “\\server\share\path\file” for Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names. For more information about UNC names,
• Do not assume case sensitivity. For example, consider the names OSCAR, Oscar, and oscar to be the same, even though some file systems (such as a POSIX-compliant file system) may consider them as different. Note that NTFS supports POSIX semantics for case sensitivity but this is not the default behavior.
• Volume designators (drive letters) are similarly case-insensitive. For example, “D:\” and “d:\” refer to the same volume.
• Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:
  • < (less than)
  • > (greater than)
  • : (colon)
  • ” (double quote)
  • / (forward slash)
  • \ (backslash)
  • | (vertical bar or pipe)
  • ? (question mark)
  • * (asterisk)
• Integer value zero, sometimes referred to as the ASCII NUL character.
• Characters whose integer representations are in the range from 1 through 31, except for alternate data streams where these characters are allowed.
• Any other character that the target file system does not allow.
• Use a period as a directory component in a path to represent the current directory, for example “.\temp.txt”.
• Use two consecutive periods (..) as a directory component in a path to represent the parent of the current directory, for example “..\temp.txt”.
• Do not use the following reserved device names for the name of a file:CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, and LPT9. Also avoid these names followed immediately by an extension; for example, NUL.txt is not recommended.
• Do not end a file or directory name with a space or a period. Although the underlying file system may support such names, the Windows shell and user interface does not. However, it is acceptable to specify a period as the first character of a name. For example, “.temp”.