Only Name File with Extension in Windows

Question

I am trying to create a file in Windows XP that is only the extension (".classpath" and ".project"). While my Linux box handles this appropriately, Windows gives me the error, "You must type a file name."

Any suggestions how to do this? I am attempting to setup an Eclipse project where I can bring in the classpath and project files from someone else's setup and I keep getting the above error.

Answer 1

use the commandline to do this, windows explorer doesn’t allow renamed files to start with a period. first create the file/directory with a dummy name x.ext, then fire up cmd.exe and rename it:

ren x.ext .ext

this way you can also create directories which names start with a period (like .git or .meta)

Answer 2

From the command line:

echo some text > .classpath

Answer 3

Windows seems not to be in control of how Save dialogs handle forbidden characters

Answer 4

Quoting the filename should do the job.

I have no Windows machine to try it out but I was able to save a ".htaccess" file in Notepad this way.