HT201548: Change the OS X user account name and home folder name on your Mac

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eranm

Q: Why the default for short username uses lowercase letters?

Why the default for short username uses lowercase letters? Is there any functional advantage for this?

iPhone 4S, iOS 6

Posted on Oct 12, 2015 12:30 PM

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Q: Why the default for short username uses lowercase letters?

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  • by BobHarris,Helpful

    BobHarris BobHarris Oct 14, 2015 1:52 AM in response to eranm
    Level 6 (19,272 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2015 1:52 AM in response to eranm

    Unix users do not like to type uppercase letters.  If you spend enough time typing out every command and file name, you do not want to keep hitting the shift key (speaking as someone that has been working with key punch machines, real terminals, terminal emulators for 40+ years).

  • by eranm,

    eranm eranm Oct 14, 2015 2:39 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2015 2:39 AM in response to BobHarris

    That's a convenience thing I am aware of (I am a terminal user myself), but that does not answer my question. I asked if there is any functional usage for this, in some way.

    Note that perhaps the user home dir would be lowercase, but the convention in Mac OS X for all system libraries is to use capitalisation. So even if I use the terminal, I find using lowercase for home dir more confusing than anything else (and it is not as confusing in Linux for example).

  • by Tony T1,

    Tony T1 Tony T1 Oct 14, 2015 4:36 AM in response to eranm
    Level 6 (9,232 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2015 4:36 AM in response to eranm

    eranm wrote:

     

    That's a convenience thing I am aware of (I am a terminal user myself), but that does not answer my question.

    I asked if there is any functional usage for this, in some way.

     

    No.

  • by BobHarris,Helpful

    BobHarris BobHarris Oct 14, 2015 10:36 AM in response to eranm
    Level 6 (19,272 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2015 10:36 AM in response to eranm

    I asked if there is any functional usage for this, in some way.

    I agree with in that I do not think there is any functional basis for all lowercase.

     

    However, not including spaces or other special characters, does have serious benefits when the user name is used in any Unix oriented command, as the Unix command line parses based on spaces, and if $USER included spaces it is too easy for a script to break because $USER was not enclosed in double quotes "$USER".

     

    Also when you create your first account, you are given a chance to specify whatever short name you desire.  It is just that OS X presents you with a lowercase, no spaces, not special character short name as the default.

     

    There are ways to change the short name, but you have to be careful to make sure you change all the connected dots or the old name may still be in force in some dark and hidden corner.

    <Change the account name and home directory name on your Mac - Apple Support>

    <http://www.macworld.com/article/2107780/change-your-short-username-in-os-x-10-9- mavericks.html>

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Oct 14, 2015 6:24 AM in response to eranm
    Level 7 (20,606 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2015 6:24 AM in response to eranm

    What you do in your home directory is your policy, not Apple's or UNIX tradition (except illegal characters including spaces in filenames).

     

    The principal folders that Apple creates when a new account is established have leading caps and a tatoo on the icon. I do not change these. Most of my own created folders and filenames are all lower case. I don't use sentence-long filenames, and may use an occasional underscore in file naming — but of similar vintage to Bob, my UNIX filenaming is deliberately short, concise, and lower-case.

     

    I have incorporated coloration in my black background terminal sessions, that allow folders to appear blue, executables as red, and regular files and commands as white.

  • by eranm,

    eranm eranm Oct 14, 2015 10:53 AM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2015 10:53 AM in response to VikingOSX

    What I do in my home directory is also Apple's policy, and the leading caps is applied also in system folders and not only in individual users' folders. This is usually not the case in Linux where the use of lowercase letters only is applied pretty much everywhere (at least last time I checked). Thus, creating a home directory using lowercase only does not make sense when virtual every other folder in Mac (at least the ones the normal user sees) are using leading caps.


    I was expecting Apple to suggest by default the name with leading cap, and with no spaces - especially since it is not trivial to change it later. Since they did not do that, I suspected there is some code somewhere which may rely on this - but you seem to reassure me it does not have any functional use.


    I have been using a Mac for ~8 years now and always used a leading cap for the short name - never had any issue with it, but I still was not sure if this could lead to trouble in the future.


    In the related support document (Change the account name and home directory name on your Mac - Apple Support), Apple states specifically: "When modifying the account name (short name) or the home folder name, the name you use should not contain any spaces." This is understandable for the reasons you have mentioned. But I also read in some forum that in the past Apple specifically stated the short username must use lowercase - so either this statement was wrong, or Apple realised there is no need for such a demand.


    BTW, the colouring in terminal is familiar (I use it myself), but do not answer my question, and I don't know of anyone using caps and small letters to distinguish between directories and other file types.