How do I reference long file names in DOS and other tricky ones.?

Question

I have the following directories that are located on my C: drive

Funk
Pop
Soundtracks
Unknown Artist
Reggae_Tracks

While I am at the C: promp in the windows\system32\command.com window, I tried the following.

cd Funk
-- this takes me to C:\Funk> no problems

cd Pop
-- this takes me to C:\Pop> no problems

cd Soundtracks
-- I get the following error message:
Invalid directory

I know the directory exists because when I did dir c: I saw the folder there.

What is the proper dos format while using "cd" in order to handle
a) long file names
b) specail characters.
c) spaces

thank for helping

Answer 1

Here's a great tip for using cmd in winXP.

You type the first few characters of something then hit the tab key. It will automatically fill in the rest of the characters in the correct format based on what available valid entries there are.

Example:

You type CD sou

The command line will automatically read CD "Soundtracks"

You type CD doc

It will automatically fill in CD "documents and settings"

Major time saver, works for files, deletes, copies, commands, and everything else.

Answer 2

Does it work on the other long named folders, i.e Unknown Artist, Raggae_Tracks?

It sounds to me like you are just not entering the right name for the SoundTracks folder.

File names are case sensitive.

Are you putting a between the two words? Or is there a "_" between the two words? Or a "~" at the end?

I see no other reason why the short named folders work, but not the long named one. It's gotta be something to do with spelling, etc.

Answer 3

The format for dos file names is 8 and 3. Eight characters for the file name and 3 for the extension. Take the first 7 letters and add a ~ (tilde) at the end. for example cd Soundtr~. This should work.

Answer 4

Well if you are using "command" (as opposed to "cmd") and the filename is longer than 8 characters then it only accepts the first 6 characters for the filename, then adds a "~" and then a number. If there are two files like this:

programaaa.txt
programbbb.txt

Then programaaa.txt becomes "progra~1.txt" and programbbb.txt becomes "progra~2.txt"

Try the following (one should work):
cd soundt~1
cd "soundtracks"

For more info see the source.

Answer 5

Use command.com only as a last resort. Try typing cmd into the run box instead of command.com. Same thing, but for some reason (that is beyond my comprehension) it is better. That should also help fix your problem.

Answer 6

Well it's crude, but you can access longnames by their first 8 characters and ^1

try cd Soundtra^1

for that matter try

cd Sound*

in general, blanks are handled with quotes:

cd "Documents and Settings"

Answer 7

It the directory Soundtracks
is exist that means it is not under c:\ it is under other directory.if you believe it is too long rename it and make it less than 8 characters, lets say soundtrk and make sure it is under the mother directory which is c:\