How can I sanitize a string for use as a filename?

Question

I\'ve got a routine that converts a file into a different format and saves it. The original datafiles were numbered, but my routine gives the output a filename based on an

Answer 1

{
  CleanFileName
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Given an input string strip any chars that would result
  in an invalid file name.  This should just be passed the
  filename not the entire path because the slashes will be
  stripped.  The function ensures that the resulting string
  does not hae multiple spaces together and does not start
  or end with a space.  If the entire string is removed the
  result would not be a valid file name so an error is raised.

}

function CleanFileName(const InputString: string): string;
var
  i: integer;
  ResultWithSpaces: string;
begin

  ResultWithSpaces := InputString;

  for i := 1 to Length(ResultWithSpaces) do
  begin
    // These chars are invalid in file names.
    case ResultWithSpaces[i] of 
      '/', '\', ':', '*', '?', '"', '<', '>', '|', ' ', #$D, #$A, #9:
        // Use a * to indicate a duplicate space so we can remove
        // them at the end.
        {$WARNINGS OFF} // W1047 Unsafe code 'String index to var param'
        if (i > 1) and
          ((ResultWithSpaces[i - 1] = ' ') or (ResultWithSpaces[i - 1] = '*')) then
          ResultWithSpaces[i] := '*'
        else
          ResultWithSpaces[i] := ' ';

        {$WARNINGS ON}
    end;
  end;

  // A * indicates duplicate spaces.  Remove them.
  result := ReplaceStr(ResultWithSpaces, '*', '');

  // Also trim any leading or trailing spaces
  result := Trim(Result);

  if result = '' then
  begin
    raise(Exception.Create('Resulting FileName was empty Input string was: '
      + InputString));
  end;
end;