WANCHO%simtel20@sri-unix.UUCP (12/08/83)
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@simtel20> It may appear that some files in MICRO: are inaccessible when you try to GET certain files with FTP. The following info ought to clear up the apparent problems... All of the non-alphanumeric characters in TOPS-20 filenames, except a limited few, are considered "special" characters. Thus, you must quote them with a real ^V. For example, it is BY3^V+SMDM.ASM and SQ^V/USQ.whatever. Sorry for the confusion. --Frank
POURNE%mit-mc@sri-unix.UUCP (12/09/83)
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE@mit-mc> Are you actually under the impression that this essage ELIMINATES confusion? Holy Catfish... Date: 7 Dec 1983 20:45 MST (Wed) From: Frank J. Wancho <WANCHO at simtel20> To: INFO-CPM at brl-vgr Re: Special characters in SIMTEL20 files It may appear that some files in MICRO: are inaccessible when you try to GET certain files with FTP. The following info ought to clear up the apparent problems... All of the non-alphanumeric characters in TOPS-20 filenames, except a limited few, are considered "special" characters. Thus, you must quote them with a real ^V. For example, it is BY3^V+SMDM.ASM and SQ^V/USQ.whatever. Sorry for the confusion. --Frank
MOOERS%bbna@sri-unix.UUCP (12/09/83)
TOPS20, for unknown reasons, normally accepts only the following "standard" characters in file names: uppercase A through Z, numbers 0 through 9, and the punctuation characters dollarsign ($), hyphen (-), and underscore (_). Also, when you are creating or typing filenames, TOPS-20 automatically converts lowercase a through z to uppercase. If you want to type any other "nonstandard" character, such as lowercase a, circumflex (^) or backslash (\), which appears in a file name, you must "quote" the character. The method of quoting such a character is to type Control-V before you type the character. The filename that contains the nonstandard character also contains a Control-V preceding the character, but TOPS-20 cleverly doesn't show you the Control-V. (Except sometimes it does, as "^V"; I can't give you the rule for when.) Sometimes people include "nonstandard" characters in filenames deliberately to keep other people from typing them. I have come to the conclusion, based on bitter experience, that this is a bad idea. I believe, however, that the "nonstandard" characters in the files in question were standard characters on the machine from which the files were transferrred. ---Charlotte Mooers