Use Long Filenames in a DOS Window Intended For Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95 In DOS (a.k.a. the Command Prompt), any files or directories (a.k.a. Folders) with Long Filenames (a.k.a. longer than 8.3) will appear truncated. That is, a file with the name My List of Things.TXT will be called MYLIST~1.TXT. To access these files and directories in DOS, do the following: When changing directories, type CD "Program Files" instead of CD PROGRA~1. You can also use the quotes to specify files as command line parameters. Note: If you're especially lazy, you can drop the closing quotation mark in most situations. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Thursday, August 9, 2001 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows 98] Question about 'Use Long Filenames in a DOS Window' (Annette: Tuesday, November 27, 2001) [Windows Me] Question about 'Use Long Filenames in a DOS Window' (Dick Morant: Thursday, December 26, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'Use Long Filenames in a DOS Window' (Rob: Saturday, February 12, 2005) Return to "Using Windows"