So I open a random file folder on my desktop. A random file has a name like “Flaggy Music Folders.” Wonderful, Mac OS (latest and greatest version) allows unlimited-lenght file names. But now turn to my desktop. Here I have a file named “Telephone Book,” but then name that appears under the icon reads “Tel…txt”
Now why is it the first file name appears in its entirety, “Flaggy Music Folders,” but the one on my desktop is truncated?
I have had this problem since I bought this new Mac a few months ago. I bet I have to do something in Preferences.
In icon view, the file names are truncated as to not overlap the space allocated to the next icon. If you go to Finder/View/View options and increase either the icon size or the grid spacing, more of the filename will be displayed (OSX 10.6, i’ve not yet checked 10.7)
Actually as I understand it, the maximum file name length on a Mac (and Unix in general) is 1023 characters. With the understanding that the name actually includes the full path name. So if your file is buried ten folders down, the actual maximum name length can be pretty short.
Yep, that got it. Now my icons are too big for my liking, but I can read the names. This did not make me happy. I changed the spacing of the icons and that made me happy; smaller icons with more-complete names.
This is one of my biggest annoyances with Windows. No matter how much space there is between icons, and no matter how large the grid is, you will be limited to 2 rows of filename information. Only when selected will it show the whole filename. It’s been this way since Windows 95, and possibly earlier.
The maximum filename and path length is a function of both the operating system and the filesystem. Most modern Unix filesystems have a maximum filename length of 255 characters (or maybe bytes), but no maximum path length. Most operating systems have no problem with 255-character filenames, but will almost certainly cap the path length. Linux supports path lengths of up to 4096; it’s probably similar or the same on Mac OS.
Once again, wikipedia to the rescue. Comparison of file systems: Limits
For HFS+ (Macintosh OS X filesystem)
Maximum filename length: 255 UTF-16 code units
Allowable characters in directory entries: Any valid Unicode
Maximum pathname length: Unlimited
Again, the file system is distinct from the operating system which implements it. The file system itself may not have a limit on the path name (usually because the underlying data structure is just a chain of indices) but the operating system usually imposes one (because such a chain at some point has to be represented by the OS as a string: maintaining and passing around dynamically allocated strings isn’t conducive to the sort of speed and robustness required by the low-level parts of the OS, and it would also make things difficult for higher-level UI routines to read and write them).
Understood.
In V10.6.8 of the Mac OS, there are the following limits set:
grep PATH_MAX /usr/include/sys/syslimits.h* #define PATH_MAX 1024 /* max bytes in pathname /
grep NAME_MAX /usr/include/sys/syslimits.h #define NAME_MAX 255 /* max bytes in a file name */
The wiki Arnold Winkelried found probably refers in part to the file system, not the OS.
