Operating systems define certain characters that are illegal to use in folder and filenames. In Windows, these characters are:
- < (less than)
- > (greater than)
- : (colon)
- ” (double quote)
- / (forward slash)
- \ (backslash)
- | (vertical bar or pipe)
- ? (question mark)
- * (asterisk)
When illegal characters are encountered by Aid4Mail in folder and file naming, Aid4Mail uses Unicode characters that look very similar to the illegal ones. Here are details on the Unicode characters that are used as substitutes:
- \ (backslash) = / (Unicode character U+2044)
- / (forward-slash) = / (Unicode character U+2044)
- : (colon) = : (Unicode character U+0589)
- ? (question mark) = ¿ (Unicode character U+0589)
- * (asterisk)= • (Unicode character U+2022)
- ” (double quote)= ” (Unicode character U+2033)
- < (less than)= ‹ (Unicode character U+2039)
- > (greater than)= › (Unicode character U+203A)
- | (vertical bar or pipe)= ¦ (Unicode character U+00A6)
- Otherwise = _ (underscore)