1

Can anyone provides me details of why Windows does nto allow to create file/folders with below names?

  • PRN
  • AUX
  • NUL
  • LPT1
  • COM1
  • Potential drive letter - A: to Z:
  • Other characters (such as <(less than), >(greater than), :(colon), "(double quote), /(forward slash), \(backslash), |(vertical bar or pipe), ?(question mark), *(asterisk)
Sathyajith Bhat
  • 61,800
AZHAR
  • 11

2 Answers2

1

Full details of what is allowed from MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247(VS.85).aspx

  • 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, see the Maximum Path Length Limitation section.

  • 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. For more information, see CreateFile.

  • 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:

    • The following reserved characters:

      • < (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 streams where these characters are allowed. For more information about file streams, see File Streams.

    • 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". For more information, see Paths.

  • Use two consecutive periods (..) as a directory component in a path to represent the parent of the current directory, for example "..\temp.txt". For more information, see Paths.

  • 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. For more information, see Namespaces.

  • 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".

Shevek
  • 16,600
0

Also, neither a space nor a period can be used at the end of a name. Further, files cannot have the following reserved device names: CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, and LPT9. Note that the case does not matter in Windows.

There's more information you may find useful on the page that came from (Source).

OmidTahouri
  • 711