strange character at the end of some file/folder names

Question

Level 2

197 points

strange character at the end of some file/folder names

I'm getting a strange character at the end of some of my file and folder names. This is it:  When I enlarge it, it says "private use" on the top and bottom, "E000" on the left side, and "F8FF" on the right side. It acts like a character within the font, but I'm not sure why it's there.

In case that didn't work, I'm going to try to attach or embed a gif of the character. I'm not sure if it will work or not.

Also, some longer file names seem to be dleeting some of the letters and are inserting a pound sign and a few numbers (e.g. #34) in place of the letters.

What's going on?

As usual, thanks in advance,
Lloyd

G5 dual 2G, Mac OS X (10.4.4), 1.5GB RAM, (2) 160GB HDs

Posted on Jan 30, 2006 10:40 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Mark Jones

Level 4

3,070 points

Jan 31, 2006 2:32 PM in response to Lloyd Lathrop

This happens when an OSX file with a name over 32 characters in length is opened on an OS9 machine. OS9 character limit for a filename is 32 characters. OSX is 256, so it can't interpret anything after 32 so it truncates the filename. Usually the file will appear with the correct name in OSX but it doesn't always.

Mark

Reply

Answer 2

Lloyd Lathrop Author

Level 2

197 points

Feb 1, 2006 7:03 AM in response to Mark Jones

I thought that might be it...at first. Then I found some file names that were nowhere near 32 characters long whose names were truncated.

It's not a huge problem, except in QuarkXPress when I collect the files for output and I have to reconnect to the ones whose names have been changed (to protect the innocent, I suppose).

Thanks for the input mark.

Lloyd

Reply

Answer 3

Mark Jones

Level 4

3,070 points

Feb 1, 2006 8:48 AM in response to Lloyd Lathrop

Sometimes it takes into account the extension at the end of the filename, so some files may not look 32 characters in length, but with the extension at the end (.pdf) for example it is.

Mark

Reply