CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsgetopenfilename
Jeff
Jeff

Reputation: 412

Semicolons in Windows filenames

One of my users asked why my application does not support semicolons in filenames. I stepped through my code, and it seems Windows function GetOpenFileName truncates any filename containing a semicolon. E.g., "one;two.wav" -> "one".

Microsoft says colons are not allowed, but it doesn't mention semicolons...

Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces

Are they legal or not?

And how can I get GetOpenFileName() to work with semicolons in a filename?

OH! Weird; the filename is correct, except 'scrolled' off to the left. So "one;two.wav" looks like "two.wav" until I click it and press left-arrow (then it's fine). So it's not a bug as such, only weird behaviour.

Upvotes: 9

Views: 15989

Answers (5)

Michael Petrotta
Michael Petrotta

Reputation: 60972

Semicolons are legal in NTFS file paths.

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.
  • Any other character that the target file system does not allow.

I'm able to add semicolons to filenames on my Windows 7 system. Watch for code, probably yours or third-party code, that does strange things with unexpected characters (most notably spaces).

Upvotes: 12

Vertilizer
Vertilizer

Reputation: 41

Though it may be omitted in the Windows handbooks, the semicolon is a reserved character too, for example "dir .dat;.bak" is a legal command. The same applies to the plus character, for example "copy test1.dat+test2.dat test3.dat" is a legal command.

Upvotes: 4

Henk
Henk

Reputation: 21

True: Windows allows a semicolon in file names. But when you burn such files to a data CD or DVD disc, the names get truncated. This I experienced when using aHead Nero version 9.

Upvotes: 2

Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper

Reputation: 32596

Yes. A semi-colon is a legal character in a Windows file-name. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if there were other programs that had a problem with them.

Upvotes: 1

drhanlau
drhanlau

Reputation: 2527

Yes, they are allowed. Just that if you are running them in the command line you have to put quotes within them.

Upvotes: 1

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