Re: [boost] File operations: Win32 question [was Re: the first version of abstract path...]

From: Carl Daniel (cpdaniel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-23 12:06:45

From: "Chris Little" <cslittle_at_[hidden]>
> As Ken mentioned, the A versions are limited by MAX_PATH but the W versions
> are not.
>

Actually, it's not quite that simple.  From the Microsoft Platform SDK document entitled "File Naming Conventions":

The maximum length for a path, including a trailing backslash, is given by MAX_PATH.
The Unicode versions of several functions permit paths that exceed the MAX_PATH length if the path has the "\\?\"
prefix. The "\\?\" tells the function to turn off path parsing. However, each component in the path cannot be more than
MAX_PATH characters long. Use the "\\?\" prefix with paths for local storage devices and the "\\?\UNC\" prefix with
paths having the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) format. The "\\?\" is ignored as part of the path. For example,
"\\?\C:\myworld\private" is seen as "C:\myworld\private", and "\\?\UNC\bill_g_1\hotstuff\coolapps" is seen as
\\bill_g_1\hotstuff\coolapps.

-cd