Q61218: C 6.00 README: PWB: OS/2 Long Filename Support

Article: Q61218
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 6.00   | 6.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS | OS/2
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | file name | mspl13_c
Last Modified: 15-AUG-1990

The following information is taken from the C Version 6.00 README.DOC
file.

OS/2 1.20 LONG FILENAME SUPPORT
-------------------------------

OS/2 1.20 long filenames are supported in all PWB file-handling
functions, with a couple of exceptions. This section defines long
filenames, summarizes restrictions, and enumerates special cases.

For additional information on support of long filenames, query on the
following:

   long and filenames

Long Filenames
--------------

To PWB, a "long filename" is any filename containing the characters

   +=[];^,

Also included is any filename containing a space, or any filename
whose base name is longer than eight characters. Long filenames can
contain more than one period (.) and can have more than three letters
following the final period.

However, files that are intended to be used as part of the build
process have more severe naming restrictions. To be used as part of a
build, the filename cannot contain spaces or any of the special
characters listed above.

In addition, existing rules for specifying an extension apply: the
extension consists of a period (.) followed by one to three
alphanumeric characters. To avoid conflict with NMAKE, filename
extensions should not contain any dollar signs ($).

Quoted Filenames
-----------------

Any filename may be quoted anywhere. Quoting involves ONLY the
addition of the double-quote character (") at the beginning and end of
the complete filename, including the path. There is no escape
character, as quotes themselves are not valid filename characters.
Some situations may require quoting of long filenames containing
characters that were previously illegal.

Filename Length
---------------

Under OS/2 1.20, each portion of a filename is restricted in length to
256 characters. In PWB and other utilities, the ENTIRE filename length
is restricted to 200 characters.

Extensions
----------

For build purposes, filename extensions are recognized as such ONLY if
they are three characters or fewer in length. Thus "WAIT.C" is
recognized as having an extension of ".C", while "WAIT.C PROGRAM" is
treated as if it has no extension.

Case Preservation
-----------------

OS/2 1.20 is case insensitive and case preserving. Thus, "File" "FILE"
both refer to the same file, but OS/2 will not perform any case
changes on the filenames created or copied. PWB operates similarly:
case in filenames is preserved as typed by the user, but matches are
made without regard to case.

Exceptions
----------

Help files may not have long filenames. The Helpfiles switch,
therefore, does not support long filenames.

What to Quote
-------------

You must explicitly quote long filenames in the following situations:

- Filenames inserted in a "%s" format field that could be filenames.
  For example, if long filenames could be used, the Readonly switch,
  under OS/2, could be set to:

     readonly: attrib -r "%s"

- Commands to be executed that happen to be long filenames. For
  example, for a program named "Change Attribute", the readonly
  command above might instead be:

     readonly: "Change Attribute" -r "%s"

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