Comparison of File and Directory Name
and File Systems on Macintosh, PC and Unix Computers and
Operating systems.
OS
Win
95/98
Win
2000+
Mac
OS 9
Mac
OS X
Unix/Linux
File
System .
FAT 32
NTFS
HFS +
HFS+/UFS
UFS
Max
Char.
255
256
31
255
255
Max
Path.
260
260
Restricted
"/\*?<>|:
"/\*?<>|:
:
:
/
Space
/
Directory
Separator
\
\
:
:
/
Case
Sensitivity
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES
Mac OS file names compatibility:
• Mac OS9 supports HFS and HFS+ File system and may
be up to 31 characters long. Max OSX supports HFS+ and UFS
(Unix File System) and may be up to 255 characters long.
• Colon ":" is used as a directory separator.
• File and folder names may use any characters except
colon ":" and forward slash "/" which
is used for directory separators on OS9 and OSX.
• Filenames preserves case but are not case sensitive.
Windows file names compatibility: • Windows uses two different file systems:
the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system and New Technology
File System (NTFS).
• File and folder names may be up to 255 characters
long on FAT file systems and 256 characters long on NTFS.
Full pathnames may be up to 260 characters long.
• There is a limit to the full pathnames of 260 characters
long.
• Backslash "\" is used as the directory
separator.
• File and directory names may not contain the special
characters: "/\*?<>|:
Periods are allowed in file and directory names, but not
as the last character. for example "letter.doc"
is legal but "letterdoc." is illegal file name.
• Filenames preserves case but are not case sensitive.
UNIX file names compatibility: • Unix base operating systems mostly use the
UFS (Unix File System).
• File and folder names may be up to 255 characters
long.
• Forward slash"/" is used as the directory
separator.
• File and directory names may not contain the special
characters: space and /
• Filenames preserves case and are case sensitive.
