How long can filenames be in Win95/98 and NT?

[Troy T]

I am working on an application that has to store many data files for individual user accounts, and I need to know what the filename restrictions are for files in Windows 95/98, and also for Windows NT.

Can someone give me this information? Thanks in advance!

- Troy

[pkraman]

hi,
It depends on if the file is created on a FAT or NTFS Partition.
The maximum file length on a NTFS partition is 256 characters, and 11 characters on FAT (8 character name, . , 3 character extension). NTFS filenames keep their case, whereas FAT filenames have no concept of case (however the case is ignored when performing a search etc on NTFS). There is the new VFAT which also has 256 character filenames.

NTFS filenames can contain any characters, including spaces, uppercase/lowercase except for the following

" * : / \ ? < > |

which are reserved for NT, however the file name must start with a letter or number.

VFAT filenames can also contain any characters except for the following

/ \ : | = ? " ; [ ] , ^

and once again the file name must start with a letter or number.

Hope this answers your query.

Regards,
Kalyan