[DominikHoffmann]

We have Windows 2000 Server box with a volume that has a series of user folders on it. Some of these appear to have been generated and filled with files in the past by users connecting to the server via AppleTalk from Mac OS 9 or earliers systems. Furthermore, it seems that all characters used in filenames that are special to Mac OS get mapped to this strange character (magnified to 144 pt)

when I connect to the Windows 2000 Server via SMB from a Mac OS X box.

Interestingly, when I get a listing via "ls -laB" of a directory that contains a file or directory with a name that contains that character, it looks like this

-rwx------ 1 dominik admin 9206784 8 Apr 1999 spyro talk\357\200\250

In other words, what seems like one character in the Finder is really three (perhaps Unicode?) characters.

Retrospect will not back up files with these filenames, and I am looking for a way I can automatically rename all files in the entire share to eliminate these higher-number character codes.

Any insights? Any suggestions? I have never seen this documented anywhere.

Dominik Hoffmann

[ghporter]

The graphic in the middle looks very much like a Dr. Seuss character from "On Beyond Zebra."

I agree that it's probably a Unicode character, and I think it's been put there to make it difficult for anyone to connect to that server. I would connect the server's administrator and ask about it. Or ask the IT department if that's a legal server name. You (and the IT department) might be surprised with what you find out.

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
The graphic in the middle looks very much like a Dr. Seuss character from "On Beyond Zebra."

I agree that it's probably a Unicode character, and I think it's been put there to make it difficult for anyone to connect to that server. I would connect the server's administrator and ask about it. Or ask the IT department if that's a legal server name. You (and the IT department) might be surprised with what you find out.

Problem is, I am the server's administrator. The people I can ask with Windows Server experience didn't interact with Macs before Mac OS X and its ability to cross-platform connect.

To clarify, rather than being in volume names, these characters and Unicode sequences like "\357\200\250" are part of ordinary file and folder names. Judging from those names, character sequences like that stand, among other things, for the n-dash the way one might use it to indicate a year range, like "98-99."

I'm still befuddled. By the way, the hex codes E000 and F8FF don't pull up anything meaningful at the Apple discussion forums.

Dominik Hoffmann

[alex_kac]

See if you can write a perl script on Windows to just change those characters to a known value to solve the issue, though probably not in the best way, but at least do it and get on with work.

Just an idea - depends on how important those file names be exactly like that (i.e. Quark image files) or many other factors.

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by alex_kac:
See if you can write a perl script on Windows to just change those characters to a known value to solve the issue, though probably not in the best way, but at least do it and get on with work.

Just an idea - depends on how important those file names be exactly like that (i.e. Quark image files) or many other factors.

That's exactly what I will have to do. However, I'll first have to figure out how to do this and especially, how to catch the whole range of offending characters.

Good idea, though, to run it on Windows, rather than on my Mac with the Windows volume mounted.

Dominik

[DominikHoffmann]

I think I found what the character symbol implies. I found the Unicode Code Chart page, which has a link to "Private Use Area" codes. In other words there must a range of Unicodes between E000 and F8FF that is reserved. The Lucida Grande font chooses to represent characters in that range by the glyph I show in my original post.

The question remains: How did those characters get into the file and folder names?

Dominik

[BkueKanoodle]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, but I remember from back in my days adminning a Advertising Agencies Network, that if you placed a file on a windows file server from a pre-os X system, it would put all sorts of funky characters in the file name if you used any of the "reserved" characters (like spaces - etc). You could use these "special characters within OS 9 and within Windows, but if you tried to put the files on the Windows server across the nework, you'd end up with these. We used to constantly have to remind the mac users about naming conventions, because they were a major pain in the rear.

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by BkueKanoodle:
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, but I remember from back in my days adminning a Advertising Agencies Network, that if you placed a file on a windows file server from a pre-os X system, it would put all sorts of funky characters in the file name if you used any of the "reserved" characters (like spaces - etc). You could use these "special characters within OS 9 and within Windows, but if you tried to put the files on the Windows server across the nework, you'd end up with these. We used to constantly have to remind the mac users about naming conventions, because they were a major pain in the rear.

It looks very much like this is the explanation. Something similar must have happened to the files in my case.

Did you develop a utility or a Perl script, as alex_kac suggests, to clean these up?

Dominik Hoffmann

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
The graphic in the middle looks very much like a Dr. Seuss character from "On Beyond Zebra."

Indeed. I went to our Barnes & Noble and found the book. Here is what it says about that character (fair-use quotation):

Explore!
Like Columbus!
Discover new letters!
Like WUM is for Wumbus,
My high-spouting whale who lives high on a hill
And who never comes down ’til it’s time to refill.
So, on beyond Z! It’s high time you were shown
That you really don’t know all there is to be known.

Dominik Hoffmann