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Best Practices for File and Directory"folder" Naming.
This is meant to help you avoid common errors in filenames.
These are also best practices for sharing files with anyone or on the web.
Characters to Avoid in File names and
Directory"folder" names
Do not use any of these common illegal characters:
| # |
pound |
< |
left angle bracket |
$ |
dollar sign |
+ |
plus sign |
| % |
percent |
> |
right angle bracket |
! |
exclamation point |
` |
backtick |
| & |
ampersand |
* |
asterisk |
‘ |
single quotes |
| |
pipe |
| { |
left bracket |
? |
question mark |
“ |
double quotes |
= |
equal sign |
| } |
right bracket |
/ |
forward slash |
: |
colon |
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| \ |
back slash |
|
blank spaces |
@ |
at sign |
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Also, keep these rules in mind.
- Don’t start or end your filename with a space, period, dash, or underscore.
- Keep your filenames under 31 characters.
- Our FTP server is CASE SENSITIVE.
- ( file.pdf, File.pdf, file.PDF ) would be seen as different files.
- All files need thier appropriate extension e.g. (.pdf, .jpg, .tif)
- When numbering files use preceding zeros.
- my_file_001.pdf
- my_file_002.pdf
- my_file_003.pdf
- my_file_010.pdf
- my_file_011.pdf
- my_file_100.pdf
- my_file_101.pdf
- or
- 001_my_file.pdf
- 002_my_file.pdf
- 003_my_file.pdf
- 010_my_file.pdf
- 011_my_file.pdf
- 100_my_file.pdf
- 101_my_file.pdf
More Examples
File names should only contain letters and numbers.
The only other characters you should use are dash - and underscore _
BAD: My Stuff (for class).pdf
BAD: my*stuff/class.pdf
GOOD: my_stuff-for_class.pdf
Do not use any extended characters in file names.
No tildes, no umlauts, no accents, no icelandic thorns
BAD: Günter's El Niño Page.pdf
GOOD: gunters_el_nino_page.pdf
Do not put any blank spaces in your file names.
Remove all blank spaces, or replace them with dash - or underscore _.
BAD: my happy file.pdf
GOOD: my-hapy-file.pdf
Only use lower case letters in file names.
Some systems are case sensitive and see capital letters as different. Some are case-insensitive and will see capital and lower case as the exact same letter.
BAD: ToTallY-AwEsOmE-StUfF.pdf
GOOD: totally-awesome-stuff.pdf
File names should begin with a letter.
Names that start with any other characters can cause strange things to happen.
BAD: _filename.pdf
GOOD: file_name.pdf
Keep file names as short as possible
(But keep the name meaningful).
BAD: If only I knew what to name this file for class on the 23rd of February of 2006, but I do not.pdf
GOOD: class_file-2006-02-23.pdf
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