File name considerations

File names created on UNIX-based GPFS nodes that are not valid on Windows are transformed into valid short names. A name may not be valid either because it is a reserved name like NUL or COM2, or because it has a disallowed character like colon (:) or question mark (?).

For more information, see Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces in Microsoft Windows documentation.

Windows applications can use short names to access GPFS files with Windows file names that are not valid. GPFS generates unique short names using an internal algorithm. You can view these short names using dir /x in a DOS command prompt.

Table 1 shows an example:

Table 1. Generating short names for Windows
UNIX	Windows
foo+bar.foobar	FO~23Q_Z.foo
foo\|bar.-bar	FO~TD}C5._ba
f\|bar.-bary	F_AMJ5!._ba