Re: What's the weirdest filesystem out there?

Ian Pilcher wrote:
> Asking here, because I can't think of a more appropriate place...
>
>
> Background:
>
> I'm working on code which needs to break the pathname in a Java File
> object into its component parts:
>
> 1. An optional filesystem identifier (such as a drive letter).
> 2. An optional root directory.
> 3. Zero or more subdirectories.
> 4. An optional filename.
>
> Depending on the platform and filesystem, 1 and 2 may or may not be
> separable.
>
>
> Question:
>
> Is there any platform out there that uses something than its directory
> separator to signify a root directory? (To put it another way, what's
> the weirdest hierarchical filesystem out there?)
>
> TIA
>
I think most modern OSes use either the UNIX or the Windows
ways of specifying a pathname.
I had little experience with CP/M. The one I had didn't support
directories but it allowed 16(?) users each one having their
own files. From the command prompt you were supposed to
change users using the user command.
For example, if you had a program called test on user 10 and
you were not on user 10 you were supposed to issue:
> user 10
> test
I had Turbo Pascal installed on it but I used it to read files from
the current user. I was starting to learn some things about
programming so I have no idea if it was possible to
specify a file using the user as well. I was using files from the
current user only.
That is the only different file system I know that did not have
the same file structure. Hand held devices I've seen also had
either UNIX or Windows style path names. I don't think there's
any device that supports JAVA and has strange path names.

That being said, the JDK API for the java.io.File class says:

"User interfaces and operating systems use system-dependent
pathname strings to name files and directories. This class
presents and abstract, system-independent view of
hierarchical pathnames. An abstract pathname has two
components:
1. An optional system-dependent prefix string, such as a
disk-drive specifier, "/" for the UNIX root directory, or
"\\\" for a Microsoft Windows UNC pathname

and

2. A sequence of zero or more string names"

It also says that each name in an abstract path name except for
the last denotes a directory. The last name represents either
a directory or a file.

Also:

when an abstract path name is converted into a pathname string,
each name is separated from the next by a single copy of the
default separator character defined by the system property:
file.separator and is made available in the public
static fields separator and separatorChar of the File class.


--
Ioan - Ciprian Tandau
tandau _at_ freeshell _dot_ org (hope it's not too late)
(... and that it still works...)
.

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