Windows XP "Cannot Delete AVI Files" FIX!

[Crickerbug]

and it opens, because DOS 8.3 file naming only looks for the first 6 characters, after which you type ~1 and it 'guesses' the rest.

Equally, if I type:

cd Window~1
it opens too. This means I can open a file/folder with a long name, just by typing the first 6 characters, followed by "~1".

But if I have a directory called 'Other Windows', I can't do this so easily:

cd Other
doesn't work, because the directory is called 'Other Windows'
and
cd Other ~1 doesn't work either, because the space I put in messes it up: "Too many parameters - ~1";
nor does
cd Other_~1 work, because the name doesn't include an underscore.

So how do I open it? Basically, how do I get windows command prompt (/dos shell) to recognise files/folders whose names contain a space in the first 6 characters? I know you can do it, and this must be an obvious question for anyone who's used DOS, but I have really forgotten how to do it.

Hope you can help,

Colin

It doesn't actually guess. When you make a long filename like "c:/Other Windows" it's actually taking the first six 8dot3 compatible characters and adding a ~1 to the end. But if you have many files that the first 6 are the same, like a folder with mp3s in it....they'll be beatle~1.mp3 beatle~2.mp3 beatle~3.mp3 and so on.

As for your "Other Windows" problem, forget about the space. Try cd otherw~1 and see if that works.

When in doubt, type "dir /x /p" and it'll show you the short filename associated with the long one, and pause for each page. But the shortname column will be blank for each file that follows the 8dot3 rules.