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Spaces in File Names??

doubledee said:
(I'm a programmer at heart, so I tend to like things more "structured" and "logical" versus "pretty"...)
Click to expand...

If you work as a programmer, make sure that all your shell scripts handle paths with space characters correctly. Well, there are other problems, like "rm -r *" being a valid filename, for example...

You can even enter "/" characters in a file name in the Finder. (Fun exercise to a programmer with no experience in Mac programming to figure out what happens and why it works).

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GGJstudios said:
Can you give an example of an app that has such a problem? I've never encountered one.
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The only obvious thing that isn't allowed is the ":" character in the Finder (or the "/" character in a Posix file name). Other than that, any Unicode character is allowed. "." as the first character hides the file. And the Finder will tell you if renaming a file changes it's suffix, and changing the suffix may break things.

You _will_ have problems exchanging files with Windows when you use certain characters.
 
BTW...

Would it be a big deal if I create Directories like this (with leading numbers)...

Code: 
10_FINANCES
20_CAREER
30_DEVELOPMENT
40_ENTERTAINMENT
and so on...


And what about nested Directories also starting with numbers...

Code: 
10_PERSONAL
	10_BOOKS
	20_MOVIES
	30_MUSIC
	40_VIDEOS

20_BUSINESS
	10_FINANCES
	20_TAXES
	30_LEGAL

Sincerely,


Debbie
 
It's not a problem on the Mac or for other modern GUI'd OSes.

It can be a problem or at least an inconvenience in command-line situations if you're sharing files with machines or services that find spaces in filenames indigestible or require them to be escaped-out, usually because spaces are interpreted as command separators in those circumstances.

The DOS command window in Windows XP is an example of a situation where space'd filenames are problematic; the Linux command line is another, most of the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename has a nice overview.
 
One last question on this general topic...


Do I have to worry about nesting files too deep in OS-X?


For example, if I store 300 GB of music in the directory below, could the depth of the Directory cause any issues...

Code: 
MBP > Users > user1 > 10_DEBBIE > 10_PERSONAL > 20_ENTERTAINMENT > +RADIO_CAPTURE


Or how about this...
Code: 
MBP > Users > user1 > 20_DOUBLEDEE_INC > 70_PROFESSIONAL_DEVELOPMENT > 30_PROJECT MGT > 10_WORK SAMPLES > SAMPLES_Me


Obviously a more "shallow" filing scheme would be better, but there isn't much I can do when I have over 600 GB of Personal & Business Data to store!!

Sincerely,


Debbie
 
GGJstudios said:
No problems with that. OS X can handle nesting deeper than you would ever want to go.
Click to expand...

Ha ha, not so sure about that!!


Well, THANK YOU everyone for your comments and help. :apple:

I am finally migrating my data over after 9 long months of setting up my MBP!!

Sincerely,


Debbie
 
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