Windows file name invalid characters

Invalid characters for Windows filenames. This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.

Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters Show hidden characters. Copy link. Thanks for the contribution! Thanks, dude! Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Checking connectivity The freedom to make irrational decisions. Thanks for the explanation. I knew there was a reason. I just checked. I stand corrected. You are right. If I try in File Explorer instead of at the command prompt I get an error.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. All file systems supported by Windows use the concept of files and directories to access data stored on a disk or device. Files and directories, along with namespaces, are part of the concept of a path, which is a string representation of where to get the data regardless if it's from a disk or a device or a network connection for a specific operation.

Some file systems, such as NTFS, support linked files and directories, which also follow file naming conventions and rules just as a regular file or directory would. To learn about configuring Windows 10 to support long file paths, see Maximum Path Length Limitation. 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. 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.

For more information, see the Paths section. 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. The following fundamental rules enable applications to create and process valid names for files and directories, regardless of the file system:. Use a period to separate the base file name from the extension in the name of a directory or file.

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. Do not assume case sensitivity. For more information, see CreateFile. Volume designators drive letters are similarly case-insensitive. Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set — , except for the following:.

Characters whose integer representations are in the range from 1 through 31, except for alternate data streams where these characters are allowed. Note: The previous conventions are true only if the application used in managing them is does not use the Unicode API.

Although the file system may support most of the above mentioned conventions the operating system may not. For example the NTFS file system allow paths to have a length up to 32, characters with each component folder, file, etc. However some windows applications like Explorer, for example, may not behave correctly in this circumstance. Below the Macintosh conventions will touch the fact that the colon ":" is an invalid character in the Macintosh Operating Systems.