DIR \\.\...?

May 20, 2008
12,167
133
Syracuse, NY, USA
Why are these different?
Code:
v:\> dir /k /m c:\
2012-10-23  22:12  <DIR>  dell
2014-12-22  21:21  <DIR>  HP_ePrint
2014-06-26  13:19  <DIR>  inetpub
2014-10-18  00:10  <DIR>  NVIDIA
2009-07-13  22:37  <DIR>  PerfLogs
2015-05-19  22:54  <DIR>  Program Files
2014-10-19  15:49  <DIR>  temp
2015-05-19  23:03  <DIR>  Users
2013-01-26  16:58  <DIR>  wd
2015-02-15  22:25  <DIR>  Windows

v:\> dir /k /m \\.\c:\
dell  <DIR>  2012-10-23 22:12
HP_ePrint  <DIR>  2014-12-22 21:21
inetpub  <DIR>  2014-06-26 13:19
NVIDIA  <DIR>  2014-10-18  0:10
PerfLogs  <DIR>  2009-07-13 22:37
Program Files  <DIR>  2015-05-19 22:54
temp  <DIR>  2014-10-19 15:49
Users  <DIR>  2015-05-19 23:03
wd  <DIR>  2013-01-26 16:58
Windows  <DIR>  2015-02-15 22:25
 
Jun 8, 2013
98
0
Warsaw, Poland
Both "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)" are shown as "Program Files"
Code:
PerfLogs  <DIR>  2009-07-14  5:20
Program Files  <DIR>  2015-05-03 20:11
Program Files  <DIR>  2015-06-06  9:55
Users  <DIR>  2015-01-20 11:19
Windows  <DIR>  2015-05-13  7:23
 

rconn

Administrator
Staff member
May 14, 2008
12,556
167
\\.\ tells Windows to use the device namespace instead of the file namespace. TCC asks Windows what the file system type is for \\.\c:\, and Windows says "unknown, default to FAT". And you get a FAT output.

So TCC's behavior is WAD. But I still don't know what you were trying to do or what you expected to see.
 

Similar threads