reserved characters in NTFS

[kalos]

Hello!

not being able to use " * : < > ? \ / | characters in filenames (reserved characters in NTFS) is a major inconvenience

is there a way to overcome this?

I want to create an archive of files that may have such characters

thanks!

[skwire]

AFAIK, nope.

[kalos]

maybe using metadata or something?

[mwb1100]

not being able to use " * : < > ? \ / | characters in filenames (reserved characters in NTFS) is a major inconvenience

-kalos (April 04, 2012, 04:07 PM)

I'd think that having files with characters like those in the name would be an even bigger inconvenience!

files that may have such characters

-kalos (April 04, 2012, 04:07 PM)

Where are those files coming from?

[Renegade]

AFAIK, nope.

-skwire (April 04, 2012, 04:10 PM)

+1

It is simply impossible to use "\" in a file name as it would indicate a path.

I can't see any reason to go down this path of using illegal characters. Is there some specific problem that you're trying to address?

If you REALLY want to use them, then you can create an NTFS stream and name it "name" or something like that, then put the file name in there and write a custom browser that reads those file names.

[nudone]

Perhaps it would be handy to come with a short list of alternative legal characters like tilde and that pipe thing with a gap in it. (sorry, i'm on an iPad and can't find the characters, except ~.)

[justice]

Don't use NTFS. You might be able to mount the partition under linux or boot from something like Hiren's BootCD and rename the offending files.

[x16wda]

AFAIK, nope.

-skwire (April 04, 2012, 04:10 PM)

If you REALLY want to use them, then you can create an NTFS stream and name it "name" or something like that, then put the file name in there and write a custom browser that reads those file names.

-Renegade (April 04, 2012, 09:57 PM)

+1

[kalos]

I want to name these files with such characters, because each file contains info about a specific substance and I want to use the name of the substance in the file name, to create an easily searchable (by filename) database

Perhaps it would be handy to come with a short list of alternative legal characters like tilde and that pipe thing with a gap in it. (sorry, i'm on an iPad and can't find the characters, except ~.)

-nudone (April 05, 2012, 01:07 AM)

unfortunately a list of alternative legal characters seems the only handy solution, where can I find one that is as much as universal as possible? ie. many people use it

[nudone]

Here's a list of characters (probably not the best resource) http://www.theworldo...tuff.com/characters/

The problem seems to be the convenience of being able to use alternate characters; it's not too practical to start using a system that you can't type with standard keyboard shortcuts. With my UK keyboard, these are legal characters readily available to use:

¦ (this is the one I mentioned above, named "Broken vertical bar", this isn't the "pipe" character.)
¬
=
+
~
@
,
&
^
'
#
]
[
}
{
)
(
&
%
$
£
!
`
I've seen ~ used instead of \ to indicate directory structures (maybe that's common?).

I guess you could use:

¦ for |

¬ for \

~ for /

~ for \

Or double up common elements (just using similar "slants" within the characters) like:

%% or ,,  or ## for /

`` or && for \


It would be nice if there is a standard that people have already embraced, I agree.

edit:
I've just realised it would be quite difficult coming up with similar looking characters for things like * and ? (well, all of them really). The large problem is not being able to use characters that are going to cause confusion because they are used reguarly, e.g. would it be bad to use ; in place of : etc., etc.

[tomos]

Someone (I think it's Skwire in one of his apps) uses the Yen symbol for paths
¥

(it's allowed in filenames)

[Curt]

#  is maybe the only logic replacement sign, since it can mean anything when you search for file names.

[Ath]

I think it's rather silly to try to change the NTFS driver/behavior to support special characters that are actually reserved/designated for separating and selecting drives, directories and files. That's not a plausible route to go.

So, if you can't solve it directly, add an extra indirection, meaning, store the information in some (searchable) fileformat, like one of several available note-storage programs, designed for tasks like these

[skwire]

Someone (I think it's Skwire in one of his apps) uses the Yen symbol for paths

-tomos (April 06, 2012, 05:42 AM)

Actually, that is a side effect of running Japanese as the default language on my English Windows boxes; most backslashes show up as Yen symbols.  I've gotten so used to it over the years that I hardly notice it anymore.

[Renegade]

Someone (I think it's Skwire in one of his apps) uses the Yen symbol for paths

-tomos (April 06, 2012, 05:42 AM)

Actually, that is a side effect of running Japanese as the default language on my English Windows boxes; most backslashes show up as Yen symbols.  I've gotten so used to it over the years that I hardly notice it anymore.

-skwire (April 06, 2012, 07:50 AM)

The Korean won symbol (₩) serves the same purpose. However, I don't think either are legal in file names...

Scratch that... I just did a quick look, and it appears that the won symbol (and yen symbol) are legal, BUT, the \ character in Korean and Japanese is displayed differently as a won and yen symbol, respectively. So, while they "look" different than the \ character, under the hood they are the same.

So, if you use a \, then convert it to Korean/Japanese, it will change, and vice versa. And none of those characters are equivalent to the KRW or JPY symbols - ₩ or ¥.