Special characters in file names?

[kulezi]

I am wondering if Linux will work for what I need.

I need to be able to save files with the filename being like this: John Doe 250 12/31/2018

The data will be copied and pasted either from a website, or from an Open Office spreadsheet with the name, number and date being in separate columns. I have had no problem doing this on a Mac, but now need to work on a Windows machine, and Windows does not allow / in the file names, and does something odd with the spacing between the data. I do not want to have to modify the filenames every time I need to enter one. I am searching for a solution.

Will Linux allow this? Thanks!

 

[kulezi]

Anybody???

I guess what I'm asking is: Is the / symbol allowed or not allowed in a file name for Linux?

 

[Condobloke]

 

[Condobloke]

do your file names have to have the / ....why not a .

 

[wizardfromoz]

Or a - (dash)

Another thought instead of a spreadsheet or in addition to is a database.

In the latter case, the complexity of the underlying tables can be greatly reduced (with concomitant space-saving benefits) with eg

20181231 John Doe 250

This makes it eminently easy for sorting purposes, chronologically, in either ascending or descending order.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[TechnoJunky]

At work, on my Windows computer, I have a backup script where I use dashes for the date. For easy sorting, you probably would want to name them like this 2019-01-05-something (year-month-day). Remember to keep the zeros in the single digit dates otherwise 2 comes after 19 (1,10,11...19,2, 20).

 

[kulezi]

Thank you for your replies. You have told me what I need to know.

I was hoping to save the editing of the date. On a mac, I can copy>paste no problem. To change the / would require editing and make the process that much longer. It's quite a bit of data... I was hoping to find a way to do the same on a PC.