What characters should be restricted from a Unix file name?

Question

Consider a Save As dialog with a free text entry where the user enters a file name as free text, then clicks a Save button. The software t

Answer 1

Firstly, what you're describing is black listing. Your better option is to white list your characters, as it is easier (from a user perspective) to have characters inserted rather than taken away.

In terms of what would be good in a unix environment:

• a-z
• A-Z
• 0-9
• underscore (_)
• dash (-)
• period (.)

Should cover your basics. Spaces can be okay, but make things difficult. Windows users love them, unix/linux don't. So depending on your target audience choose accordingly.