How can I change how long file names & file can be?

How can I change how long my file names & file can be?

The path length limit cited in the article referenced by Abdul R is 260.

It depends on the length of the full path to the file (for example, C:\Program Files\filename.txt). Windows limits a single path to 260 characters. That's why you can sometimes get an error when copying a file with a very long file name to a location that has a longer path than the location of the original file.

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However, there are various subtleties that reduce that number in practice to 255 (or less), including all spaces.

We start with the absolute limit imposed by Windows. The API operating system puts a limit (called MAX_PATH) 260 characters for the display name with the included path. This number is often cited. However, the current limits are smaller due to various other restrictions. For example, all names have to have a terminator at the end normally null only the computer see this fine marker, but it is considered as a character if there are really only 259 characters available. (Forget to count the null terminator is a common mistake). A three other characters are used by the designation of the drive or volume (for example, C:\). Thus, the limit to name all the folders and subfolders as well as the file is reduced to 256 characters. However, no files or a folder may have a name more than 255 characters. This includes spaces and some backslashes used as separators. This limit of 255 characters per object is imposed by the way Windows to encode the characters but other considerations usually impose lower limits.

of http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/filenames.htm

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More details

http://msdn.Microsoft.com/en-us/library/Windows/desktop/aa365247 (v = vs. 85) .aspx

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And now, the grand fanale, the answer to your question:

You cannot change the limit of the length of the path. It is imposed by various requirements and is coded in the system hard. You can set the 'balance' between the files and folder/sub-folder names. For example, use short directory names in order to use more long filenames.

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All this can be a nuisance to the user. A file name may be OK when originally created but be too long if the file should be copied or moved to another location whose path is longer.

There may be additional complications if the files are to be burned to CD or DVD.

Tom Ferguson

Italics are added. They indicate a source citation as indicated.

TF

Tags: Windows

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