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| <h4 class="subsection">11.2.4 Portability of File Names</h4> |
| |
| <p>The rules for the syntax of file names discussed in <a href="File-Names.html#File-Names">File Names</a>, |
| are the rules normally used by the GNU system and by other POSIX |
| systems. However, other operating systems may use other conventions. |
| |
| <p>There are two reasons why it can be important for you to be aware of |
| file name portability issues: |
| |
| <ul> |
| <li>If your program makes assumptions about file name syntax, or contains |
| embedded literal file name strings, it is more difficult to get it to |
| run under other operating systems that use different syntax conventions. |
| |
| <li>Even if you are not concerned about running your program on machines |
| that run other operating systems, it may still be possible to access |
| files that use different naming conventions. For example, you may be |
| able to access file systems on another computer running a different |
| operating system over a network, or read and write disks in formats used |
| by other operating systems. |
| </ul> |
| |
| <p>The ISO C<!-- /@w --> standard says very little about file name syntax, only that |
| file names are strings. In addition to varying restrictions on the |
| length of file names and what characters can validly appear in a file |
| name, different operating systems use different conventions and syntax |
| for concepts such as structured directories and file types or |
| extensions. Some concepts such as file versions might be supported in |
| some operating systems and not by others. |
| |
| <p>The POSIX.1 standard allows implementations to put additional |
| restrictions on file name syntax, concerning what characters are |
| permitted in file names and on the length of file name and file name |
| component strings. However, in the GNU system, you do not need to worry |
| about these restrictions; any character except the null character is |
| permitted in a file name string, and there are no limits on the length |
| of file name strings. |
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