semi colons in Windows filenames?

Question

Hi All, One of my users asked why my app does not support semi-colons in filenames. I stepped through my code, seems Windows function GetOpenFileName truncates any filename containing a semi-colon. e.g. "one;two.wav" -> "one".

Microsoft says colons are not allowed, but don't mention semi-colons...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247(VS.85).aspx

Are they legal or not?

EDIT: ..and how to GetOpenFileName() to work with semi-colons in filename?

OH!, Weird - Filename is correct, except 'scrolled' off to the left. So "one;two.wav" looks like "two.wav" until I click it and press left-arrow (then it's fine). So it's not a bug as such, only weird behaviour.

Answer 1

Semicolons are legal in NTFS file paths.

Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:

The following reserved characters:

• < (less than)
• > (greater than)
• : (colon)
• " (double quote)
• / (forward slash)
• \ (backslash)
• | (vertical bar or pipe)
• ? (question mark)
• (asterisk)
• Integer value zero, sometimes referred to as the ASCII NUL character.
• Characters whose integer representations are in the range from 1 through 31, except for alternate streams where these characters are allowed.
• Any other character that the target file system does not allow.

I'm able to add semicolons to filenames on my Win7 system. Watch for code, probably yours or third-party code, that does strange things with unexpected characters (most notably spaces).

Answer 2

Yes, they are allowed. Just that if you are running them in the command line you have to put quotes within them.

Answer 3

Yes. A semi-colon is a legal character in a Windows file-name. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if there were other programs that had a problem with them.