Option 'Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase (like explorer)'

[Valentino]

With option "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase (like explorer)" turned on, the following files or folders:

aBCDE
nGGGGGGG

are displayed this way:

abcde
nggggggg

Explorer shows them as is:

aBCDE
nGGGGGGG

P.S. Looks like Explorer shows as is even files like NGGGGG.TXT on Windows 7, so text "(like explorer)" is not always correct...

[ts4242]

With option "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase (like explorer)" turned on, the following files or folders:

aBCDE
nGGGGGGG

are displayed this way:

abcde
nggggggg

Strange! it has no effect here, when i turn it on, the names remains upper case.

Windows 8, TC 8.01 32 bit

[Valentino]

2ts4242
For me it happens for both 32 and 64 bit TC 8.01, both at home and at work (Windows 7).

[MVV]

It seems that Microsoft removed that 'feature' from last Windows versions.

I remember that earlier Windowses (9x) showed Hello.txt for file named HELLO.TXT.

[ts4242]

2MVV
We are talking about TC, the option "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase" works on Windows 7 as Valentino said and doesn't work on my Windows 8

[umbra]

Actually, I think MVV is right. Explorer did use to show 8.3 filenames in lowercase (or with its first letter uppercased), but not anymore. Total Commander does change AAA.TXT to Aaa.txt on my computers (WinXP, Win7x64, Win8x64) with that option enabled, but not the Explorer.

Also, 8.3 filenames are always uppercased - if not, they do not fit the definition and are considered as long names.

Based on the above, I believe there are three issues here:
1. "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase (like explorer)" doesn't make sense since at least WinXP (I don't have older versions to test)

2. Even if it did, it behaves weirdly:

Code: Select all

    AAA.TXT -> Aaa.txt (correct)
    aAA.txt -> aAA.txt (correct)
    AAA -> Aaa (correct)
    aAA -> aaa (why?)

3. Why it isn't doing anything on ts4242's computer, even though it should. ts4242, have you tried to navigate between different directories after you enabled/disabled that option? I've noticed that on my XP computer I had to do that to force the TC to apply the change properly.

[ts4242]

ts4242, have you tried to navigate between different directories after you enabled/disabled that option? I've noticed that on my XP computer I had to do that to force the TC to apply the change properly.

Yes i did, also i tested with clean ini

See this video

[umbra]

2ts4242
None of those files has 8.3 filename. Read the second paragraph of my last post. That statement applies to a whole filename - extension included. Meaning, "QQQQ.txt" is a long name, "QQQQ.TXT" would be an 8.3 name.

Edit:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.3#Compatibility, NT based systems should accept even "QQQQ.txt" as a valid 8.3 name. And because you are obviously using such system, TC should accept is as well if it wants to mimic its behavior.

This is getting rather complicated. I'm just curious, is anyone actually using this feature these days?

[petermad]

I tried making the aBCDE folder under Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 on NTFS and FAT 32 partitions with TC 8.01

On NTFS partitions turning on "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase" displays abcde and turning it off shows aBCDE

On FAT partitions it displays aBCDE no matter whether "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase" is turned on or off.

This applies to all three OS's, so it is not an OS issue but rather a file system issue.

[MVV]

petermad,
As it was mentioned, short name format supports only uppercase 8.3 names. So only such names should be affected.

Under Win7 this option displays for me filename WCMD_RUS.INC as Wcmd_rus.inc, and TOTALCMD.EXE as Totalcmd.exe.

I tried making folders aBCDE and BCDEF under Windows 98 with TC 8.01. And TC displayed them for me as aBCDE and Bcdef with option turned on (and as is with option turned off). BTW, Windows 98 folder options provide similar option 'Allow uppercase names' (disabled by default) that allows to display such names as is, and this option provides exactly the same results as TC option.

This is getting rather complicated. I'm just curious, is anyone actually using this feature these days?

I think no one. When all filenames were in uppercase (just because they didn't have LFN entries), such option would be useful to make names similar to those that Explorer displayed. But now if some name is in uppercase, there is a reason for that (e.g. old school style however I prefer lowercase extensions).
Anyway it would be better to change option name ('like Win9x explorer'), or just removed from configuration dialog at all (but may be kept in INI).

[ghisler(Author)]

This seems to happen when 8.3 names are turned off on a system. Can you check this? Just use command
cm_switchlongnames
to try to switch to short names. Use it again to switch back to long names.

[Valentino]

This seems to happen when 8.3 names are turned off on a system. Can you check this? Just use command
cm_switchlongnames
to try to switch to short names. Use it again to switch back to long names.

When I activated command cm_switchlongnames, file "320.00-notebook-win8-win7-64bit-international-beta.exe" became "32000-~1.exe", as expected. So 8.3 names are not turned off on my system.

[petermad]

8.3 names are also supported on all of my tree OS's.

[petermad]

2MVV

As it was mentioned, short name format supports only uppercase 8.3 names. So only such names should be affected.

Exactly - that is why aBCDE should NOT be shown as abcde as it it for me on NTFS partitions when "Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase" is turned on - it should always be shown as aBCDE, as it does for me on FAT partitions.

Just for the record - I tested it with TC 7.75a and 6.54a and it behaves the same way here.