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> Files with spaces in the name are just a bad idea anyhow It's only a bad idea because of assumptions programmers make about file paths not containing spaces
by pmarreck 4y ago
> Files with spaces in the name are just a bad idea anyhow
It's only a bad idea because of assumptions programmers make about file paths not containing spaces that they then build into their code and cause problems.
The Mac (and user-friendly file names that contain things like spaces) has been around since 1984. Why has it taken this long to just accept that file paths might contain spaces? Is it just because (essentially) Bash is a huge pain about quoting?
- bee_rider 4y agoRegardless of why or how good it is, people are going to keep making this assumption. Is it really a worthwhile hill to die on?
- pmarreck 4y agoThe only thing keeping people making this assumption is inertia and the only way to change inertia is by leaning into it. I like documents named "Paper about Nietzsche.doc", not "Paper_about_Nietzsche.doc" and directories named "Party Photos" over "Party-Photos" etc. It's about the user aesthetics, not the ease of the coder.
- patrick451 4y agoA better questions is why don't we have a files system that forbids spaces in file names entirely. Then programmers assumptions and reality will match, and much will be simplified.
- pmarreck 4y agoBecause spaces in the names of things are _human_. Would you like to type your full name as Patrick_Lastname everywhere? Or have it canonicalized to that? I'd much prefer if the space was encoded somehow like with URL encoding, or just make underscore and space interchangeable.