Unfortunately You cant Have folder structure exceeding 260 Character in Windows XP
Today at my work i found out a very weird thing. It took me some hours to identify that this was the Windows XP limitation. Actually My project has long nested folder hierarchy ( Organised java Packages ) . Today i faced problem that i couldn’t create a .java file in a package which had a long hierarchy and along with the .java file name it was exceeding 260 character limit and some kind of error was thrown. Later i found it was not my mistake but was a Windows XP limitation.
For Example say you have folders inside folder inside folder…. then a file. like C:\LongFolderName\LongFolderName\LongFolderName…..\afileName and if this exceeds 260 total character u will not be able to create the file name.
or else try creating a txt file having file name which is 260 character long. You wont be able to create it.
At the end of the day i was little happy and relieved but little tensed that i have to change the package names ( or remove some of them ) or put my project folder in C:\ .
I dont know how many of you knew this but i found it worth sharing.
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8 Comments
1.
Louiss From 
(MALAYSIA)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 03. September 2007 at 9:07 pm
ahhh I don’t even know exceeding 260 character long for the entire file and folder name will get an error.
If WinXP have this limitation I think the latest OS - Win vista also have the same limitation. May be I will ask someone to give it a try. After I tested the result, I may post the result on there comment here
2.
hem From 
(INDIA)
Wrote Using 
Opera 9.22 on 
Windows XP on 03. September 2007 at 9:33 pm
You can try it Louiss.. I forgot to put the screenshot here.. may be i will put it later
3.
Louiss From 
(MALAYSIA)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 03. September 2007 at 11:16 pm
I’m finding friends who using Window Vista. I’ll wait you post the screen shot here.
4.
Anup From 
(INDIA)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 04. September 2007 at 5:20 pm
i m not able to create folder named “con”, is it window’s limitation ?
5.
hem From 
(HONG KONG)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 04. September 2007 at 5:34 pm
@ Anup .. you cant make folder named “con” . I think it is reserved for device name similar other folders u cant create are * PRN
* AUX
* NUL
* LPT1
* COM1
* Potential drive letter - A: to Z:
6.
Louiss From 
(MALAYSIA)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 06. September 2007 at 3:08 pm
hello its me again. I asked my friend to test it on Window Vista. What my friend told me was WinXP and WinVista using NTFS file format therefore, the maximum filename length was 254 characters
This is what I found out.
7.
Louiss From 
(MALAYSIA)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 06. September 2007 at 3:09 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems
8.
hem acharya From 
(HONG KONG)
Wrote Using 
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on 
Windows XP on 06. September 2007 at 5:00 pm
Loiss .. its but the maximum file name length u can make as i have written is of 260 character for windows XP see in this official Microsoft page http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5bc67cea-5901-4563-b800-16af596dffb61033.mspx