this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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[–] listless@lemmy.cringecollective.io 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] konalt@lemmy.world 65 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Short answer: Windows doesn't let you name a file "con".

Long answer: Tom Scott video

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (4 children)

NTFS in general has a bunch of ridiculous, archaic restrictions that a more modern-ish one like ext4 doesn't. Does NTFS still not allow you to use a question mark in your filename?

[–] superkret 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Name a file in Linux ~ and then delete it again.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Well if you put it in like that it would give an error. But if you used the right slash you can kiss your home folder goodbye probably. Maybe rm ./~ would work

[–] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

~ resolves to your home folder only if it's at the beginning of a path. /~ isn't the same as ~. Go ahead and test it with something other than rm if you don't believe me (this is the Internet, I could be lying).

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Hey you're right, I tried it with rm because I'm a maniac.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 8 points 2 months ago

in tab completion I trust...

[–] binomialchicken@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Bro you either know what the fuck is in that file, or you shouldn't be renaming it in the first place.

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

Unnamed(7)FinalFinalThisTimePlease?

[–] konalt@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Apparently not.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

the question mark is a wildcard, so is asterisk. slashes are used in paths. characters you can't use usually have implications for the OS. otherwise you can name your file pretty much anything.

[–] mke@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yeah, I think it's just funny comparing it with the usual situation on Linux, where there's even less restrictions. I believe you can actually put a newline in a file name, for example, though I'll need to check and come back later.

I'd need to rename a massive amount of files if I ever wanted to go back to Windows.

P.S. yup. Generally, just avoid /, null, and you're good to go.

[–] listless@lemmy.cringecollective.io 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If only there were a special path like, oh I don't know, /dev for device handles.

[–] Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 months ago

Small businesses like Microsoft don't have the funding to develop such an advanced system.

[–] MutatedBass@beehaw.org 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In Windows certain words are reserved for system use. When naming files and directories, you are unable to use these words. Con, being short for "console", is one of these words. Con is also the Spanish word for "with", so a Spanish speaking user could not, for example, have a directory called "Fotos con Jim".

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 months ago

i think you are only restricted if the entire name is "con"

someone with windows can test this out for us.