Long and short file names explained

Now that we can use long file names (file names longer than 11 characters), here are some facts about them and short file names:

• Every long file name has an alias that complies with the 8.3 file names for backward compatibility.
• 8.3 aliases to long file names consist of the first 6 characters of the long file name followed by a ~ and an incrementing number/character. For example, if there are two or more long file names starting with the same six characters, then the number/character followed by ~ will be incremented until an unique file name is generated.
• Short file names may contain only the following characters:

- Numbers (0,1-9)
- Letters (A-Z, a-z)
- Blank (yes, theoretically you can have spaces!)
- ASCII characters greater than 127
- Special characters: + $ % ' - _ @ ~ ` ! ( ) ^ # &

• Long file names may contain only the following characters:

- All of the characters supported by short file names
- Special characters: + + , ; = [ ]

• Length of the long file names are limited to 255 characters (260 for full paths) and short file names are limited to 8+3 or 11 characters (80 for full path names).