Re: Acceptable characters in IFS file names

[Jack Woehr <jwoehr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In Unix systems you can have all those characters except /

You may have trouble referring to them in the shell ... quotes and various
escapes are needed.

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I have a program that will use CPYTOIMPF to create a .CSV file on the IFS.
> Said .CSV file will then be opened in Excel.
>
> The name of the file is generated via three key values in the data from
> which it is generated.  One of the values comes directly from our clients,
> ergo, we have very little control over the contents (special characters) of
> this value.
>
> Before I generate the file name, I want to ensure the name is valid in
> terms of actually being able to create the file and also to being able to
> open it in Excel. I tested the following characters, but realized that I
> have seen characters in our client's data before that do not exist on most
> normal keyboards.
>
> Characters in file name that won't work:
>  * (file created, but cannot be opened [specified path does not exist])
>  \ (file not created; "No such path or directory.")
>  | (file created, but cannot be opened [specified path does not exist])
>  : (file created, but cannot be opened [file not found by Excel])
>  ' (file not created. "matching quote not found")
>  " (file not created. "matching quote not found")
>  < (file created, but cannot be opened [specified path does not exist])
>  > (file created, but cannot be opened [specified path does not exist])
>  / (file not created; "No such path or directory.")
>  ? (file not created; "No such path or directory.")
>
> I was somewhat surprised at the characters that did work: ! + =
>
> I'm thinking of just creating a constant in my RPG program consisting of
> valid characters, and replacing any in the client's value that don't match
> with an underscore.  Is there an official list of valid characters for file
> names that can be created in the IFS *and* can be opened in Excel?
>
> FWIW, v7r1, and this application will always and only ever be used in the
> U.S., due to the nature of our business, so I want to avoid having to deal
> with any CCSID issues, if that applies to this situation.
>
> - Dan
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