Re: Case of filenames

Subject: Re: Case of filenames
From: Glenda Jeffrey <jeffrey -at- LEMOND -dot- HKS -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 08:23:36 -0500

> Bill Hartzer wrote:

> Personally, I CAPITALIZE all the letters in, for example: FILE.TXT, and also,

This business of capitalizing filenames is unique to the PC world.
If you do this in the Unix world, you will end up with a lot of hopelessly
confused readers, because Unix filenames are case sensitive. So, FILE.TXT is
indeed a different file than file.txt.

If you are writing a purely ASCII document and therefore have no ability
to switch fonts or emphasis, I would leave the filename exactly as is.
That is, if it's lower case, leave it that way. In the DOS world, all
uppercase is acceptable.

In most documents, context will tell the reader
that they are dealing with a filename. In addition, most filenames
have a period separating the root filename from the extension, as in
file.txt, so it is pretty obvious that you are talking about a filename.

Of course, there are plenty of files that don't have extensions. In
that case, perhaps prefacing the name with the word "file" would solve
the problem. For example, "Copy file xyz into your top directory."

Good luck... hope this helps.

--
Glenda Jeffrey Email: jeffrey -at- hks -dot- com
Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc Phone: 401-727-4200
1080 Main St. Fax: 401-727-4208
Pawtucket, RI 02860


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