Q: How to convert long Win95 paths to 8.3 dos paths?

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

On Fri, 07 May 1999 03:17:07 +0200, Michael Scharf
<Michael.Scharf at kosmos.rhein-neckar.de> declaimed the following in
comp.lang.python:

> Hello,
> 
> I am looking for a function, that can convert 
> long NT or Win95 names to 8.3 dos names
> (the same name that 'dir /x' would show).
> I could not find anything relevant in the
> with dejanews nor on the python pages...
> 
> This would convert
>    C:\Program Files
> to
>    C:\PROGRA~1
>
	I doubt that there is one that doesn't require first scanning
the MS-DOS directory structure. I've not studied it in detail, but
believe the long names are physically stored in a separate directory
extension with pointers back to the MS-DOS 8.3 directory entry.

	It isn't just a case of "long name X always compacts" to
"longna~1". Rather, any time a long name is created the OS compacts to a
~1 and sees if that name is already in use ON THAT FILE SYSTEM. The name
may compact differently on some one elses machine.

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