File Naming

Posted on by admin

To specify a file or folder you would like to hide, you can use the full path to it or/and "wild-card" mask.

There are several tricks while hiding a folder and its content you must be aware of. Make sure to place ending "*" character if you want to hide the folder with content. To see the example, please visit FAQ page.

Hiding system-critical folders (C:\windows, C:\windows\system32, *.exe, *.com etc) may result in the system crash or make the system unbootable. Please, make sure not to hide system-critical folders/files.

List of wild-cards and special characters and examples of their usage:

Character Function
?

The match-one character matches any single character except the directory separator; it does not match the end of the string. Use it in the file name only; do not use it in a drive or directory name.

For example:

  • Pattern ab? matches abc, but does not match ab, abab, abzzz
  • Pattern ab?rs matches abfrs, but does not match abrs, abllrs
  • Pattern ab?ef?rs matches abdefjrs, but does not match abefrs, abdefrs, abefjrs
  • Pattern ab??rs matches abcdrs, abzzrs, but does not match abrs, abjrs, abkkkrs
*

The match-all character matches zero or more characters. Use it in the drive name, file name or directory name. For example:

  • Pattern ab* matches ab, abb, abxxx, but does not match a, b, aa, bb.
  • Pattern ab*rs matches abrs, abtrs, abrsrs, but does not match ars, aabrs, abrss.
  • Pattern ab*ef*rs matchesabefrs, abefghrs, but does not match abefr, abers
  • Pattern abcd.* matches abcd.c, abcd.txt, but does not match abcd, abcdc, abcdtxt.

Note, that a drive name consists of a letter and a colon, so they should be replaced together. For example: C:\1.txt –> *\1.txt

\

The directory separator character limits the scope of the search for the matching n characters and directories. If a pattern does not begin with a directory separator (or does not follow the drive specification), a match-all character is appended. For example, these patterns are equivalent:

c:* c:\…\*

:

The drive separator character separates a file specification. The characters before the colon identify a drive name. The characters after the colon identify either a directory name or a file name. For example:

d:\direct\file.nam