It's within the realm of HTML code where you actually see a space in a filename become %20. Only the real geek would know the %20 is the HEX code representation of the DECIMAL code 32 which is the ASCII character SPACE. The king of Geeks could write this as 0100000 in Binary.
Given the fact that the maximum file path cannot exceed 260 characters (256 for the filename + 3 characters for the drive such as C:\ + a null terminator) , there is seldom a technical need to avoid a space in a filename. Yes, I know the PC Police will respond by saying you should use an underscore (a bad choice because it doesn't work in some software applications) or a hyphen instead of the supposedly dreaded space. Yet the main reason for this suggested substitution is to avoid the ugly look of "My&20HTML&20Page.html" instead of "My-HTML-Page.html". Another reason for the PC Police avoiding the space character is that when using the command line, one must use quotes around a filename with a space. By the way, check out Windows itself. It uses the space character in several filenames and folders such as C:\Program Files, C:\<user>\Saved Games, C:\<user>\My Documents, C:\Windows\Offline Web Pages, and more. But even Microsoft is not totally consistent because other folders use a hyphen, while still others use an underscore. So what does this all have to do with Legacy? Well, unless you really don't care how the NTFS file system stores filenames, have no plans to use the command line interface to access any Legacy files, or don't care how the name of your web page looks in the top address bar of a browser or in a link that somebody provides, but are more concerned about how your human brain handles and interprets meaningful names and phrases, then feel free to use a space in a filename. But remember the 260 character file path limit. If your files are nested that deep in so many folders each having particularly long names, then substituting a hyphen will indeed save you 2 characters for each space. I would also submit that if you have file paths approaching 260, you'd be better served by doing some housecleaning and shortening file and folder names. By the way, the very long link that Sherry provided to the PC Correct Stanford University page entitled "Best practices..." is only about 100 characters in length. Try to image it being about 2-1/2 times longer and you see the need for some house cleaning. Brian-in-CA -----Original Message----- From: Sherry/Support [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 9:59 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Next problem - Unsupported format Just something I learned from one of the geekier members of my Legacy SIG <g> "Best practices for file naming" https://library.stanford.edu/research/data-management-services/data-best-practices/best-practices-file-naming And another one from Fordham U "What’s In a Name? A Lot Actually" http://next.fordham.edu/?p=230 Sincerely, Sherry Technical Support Legacy Family Tree Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
