How can I create files on Windows with embedded slashes, using Python?

Question

After a half hour searching Google, I am surprised I cannot find any way to create a file on Windows with slashes in the name. The customer demands that file names have the following structure:

04/28/2012 04:07 PM 6,781 12Q1_C125_G_04-17.pdf

So far I haven't found any way to encode the slashes so they become part of the file name instead of the path.

Any Suggestions?

Answer 1

You can't.

The forward slash is one of the characters that are not allowed to be used in Windows file names, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx

The following fundamental rules enable applications to create and process valid names for files and directories, regardless of the file system:

Use a period to separate the base file name from the extension in the name of a directory or file.

Use a backslash (\) to separate the components of a path. The backslash divides the file name from the path to it, and one directory name from another directory name in a path. You cannot use a backslash in the name for the actual file or directory because it is a reserved character that separates the names into components.

Use a backslash as required as part of volume names, for example, the "C:\" in "C:\path\file" or the "\server\share" in "\server\share\path\file" for Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names. For more information about UNC names, see the Maximum Path Length Limitation section.

Do not assume case sensitivity. For example, consider the names OSCAR, Oscar, and oscar to be the same, even though some file systems (such as a POSIX-compliant file system) may consider them as different. Note that NTFS supports POSIX semantics for case sensitivity but this is not the default behavior. For more information, see CreateFile.

Volume designators (drive letters) are similarly case-insensitive. For example, "D:\" and "d:\" refer to the same volume.

Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:

    The following reserved characters:
        < (less than)
        > (greater than)
        : (colon)
        " (double quote)
        / (forward slash)
        \ (backslash)
        | (vertical bar or pipe)
        ? (question mark)
        * (asterisk)

Integer value zero, sometimes referred to as the ASCII NUL character.

Characters whose integer representations are in the range from 1 through 31, except for alternate data streams where these characters are allowed. For more information about file streams, see File Streams.

Any other character that the target file system does not allow.