long file names - technical definition

File names that exceed the common eight plus three (8.3) character limitation used in DOS and Windows 3.1. Unix, Mac and Windows starting with Windows 95 support long file names.

For compatibility with the 8.3 DOS format, Windows automatically converts long file and folder names into short names and maintains both forms. It creates pseudo short names with a suffix made up of the tilde character (~) and a numeric digit. Names that start with the same letters are differentiated by incrementing the digit at the end as in the following examples. See DOS file names and name mangling.

     Long file name          Short file name
     manuscriptA.doc         manusc~1.doc
     manuscriptB.doc         manusc~2.doc
     manuscript C.doc        manusc~3.doc
     manuscripts D & E.doc   manusc~4.doc

     Long folder name        Short folder name
     Program Files           progra~1