long file names

long file names

File names that exceed the common eight plus three (8.3) character limitation used in DOS and Windows 3.1. Long file names are supported in Unix, Mac and Windows starting with Windows 95.

For compatibility with the 8.3 DOS format, Windows automatically converts long file and folder names into short names and maintains both forms. It creates pseudo short names with a suffix made up of the tilde character (~) and a numeric digit. Names that start with the same letters are differentiated by incrementing the digit at the end as in the following examples. See name mangling.
Long file name Short file name manuscriptA.doc manusc~1.doc manuscriptB.doc manusc~2.doc manuscript C.doc manusc~3.doc manuscripts D & E.doc manusc~4.doc Long folder name Short folder name Program Files progra~1