Lingo in a Nutshell

File Paths

File paths are specified differently on each platform. See Table 14-3.

Macintosh pathnames take the general form:

hardDriveName:folderName1:folderName2:fileName

Windows pathnames take the general form:

X:\folder1\folder2\filename.ext

Windows uses “*” as a wildcard to match any string and as a wildcard to match a single character. The ISO 9660 standard is a disk format commonly used with CD-ROMs, but a full discussion is beyond the scope of this book. The ISO 9660 standard is implemented differently on each platform, and occasionally imposes additional restrictions on filenames and paths (see footnotes 3 and 5 to Table 14-3). The excellent white papers, Introduction to ISO 9660 and Compact Disc Terminology (available from http://www.cinram.com, or by calling 1-800-433-DISC), provide details on the ISO 9660 standard and common extensions. See also Appendix C in Director in a Nutshell for details on CD-ROM issues.

Table 14-3. Macintosh and Windows Path Specifications

Item	Macintosh	Windows 3.1/DOS	Windows 95/NT
[a]
[b]
[c]
[d]
[e]
[f]
[g]
Drive ID[a]	Name (27 chars)	Letter A-Z	Letter A-Z
Drive delimiter	:	:\	:\
Path delimiter	:	\	\
Max fileName length	31 chars	8 chars + 3-letter extension	245-255 chars[b]
Max folder name length	31 chars	8 chars	245-255 chars[b]
Max overall file path length[c]	> 255 chars (virtually unlimited)	67 chars	245-255 chars[b]
File type identified by	Hidden 4-character File Type[d]	3-letter extension	3- or 4-letter ...