From:	"Ben Davis" <ben AT vjpoole DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Weird Characters in Filenames
Date:	Fri, 3 Dec 1999 20:11:14 -0000
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To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Reply-To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com

I'm writing a DO$ game and level editor in DJGPP and Allegro. Being DO$, I
am restricting myself to DO$ 8.3 filenames. You can choose your own
filenames in the editor (obviously). When the user types in a filename, I
need to filter out certain characters, for example ' ' (space), '.' (dot),
'\' (backslash), '*' (asterisk) and '?' (question mark), because they have
special meanings.

There are a lot of characters that I'm not sure about. I wondered if someone
could tell me _exactly_ which characters I should allow the user to type
into filenames.

Below is an ASCII table from 33 to 126 plus pound sign, excluding letters
and digits. By the way, what about the pound sign? ASCII code 163 in
Window$, ASCII code 156 in DO$, ASCII code 96 on the good old BBC
Microcomputer when apostrophes were invariable :-)

! " # $ % ' ( ) * + , - . / snip : ; < = > ? @ snip [ \ ] ^ _ ` snip { | } ~
£

Another thing: do I need to allow for accented letters? Does anyone use
accented letters (CTRL+ALT+E etc.) in DOS filenames?

Ben Davis

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