File names

Mac file names can include characters that are illegal on other systems. You can even create file names that can cause problems for other Mac programs. There's an old saying that applies here: just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.

It's very simple to avoid problems. Stick to the alphabet and "-" and "_" only. There are a few other characters you could use, but why bother to remember them? The alphabet and the dash or underscore are enough: you don't need any more.

Notice that I did not include the space character. Don't use filenames like "picture of Mom's dog". Make it "Picture-of-moms-dog". Better yet, make it "picture-of-moms-dog" (because case matters on some file systems) or if you really need compatibility, shorten it to "momsdog" (some old systems can only do eight character filenames and three character extensions).

You might say "I'll never have to worry about any other OS or file system" but spaces and other punctuation characters are difficult to work with at the shell command line also, and there may come a day when you will need or want to use command line tools. Don't make that painful by having complex file names. Keep it simple now, and it always will be.

By the way, if this is a filename for a web page, see http://aplawrence.com/foo-web/dash-vs-underscore.html">dashes vs. underscores in web page filenames at Foo-web.com.

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