[wplug] number of characters in the path of a file

Mark Dalrymple wplug at badgertronics.com
Thu Sep 23 10:14:30 EDT 2004


>> Is anyone aware of a degradation  in performance when you use longer
>> file paths? For example, is  there a difference in performance  when

There shouldn't be any degredation.  The "paths over 36 characters
bypassing the memory cache" thing sounds like either FUD or an
old wive's tale that dates from the early 80s.  I've used HP-UX 
in large production environments, and our path names were well over
a couple dozen characters.

> Somewhat tangential, but it's worth noting that some userland programs
> (the most infamous being tar) restrict the number of characters in a
> path.

There is a limit, PATH_MAX, to the size of paths tha can be passed
around.  Usually it's about 4K.  Tar may have its own limitations due
to backwards compatibility.

Cheers,
++Mark Dalrymple.  markd at badgertronics.com.  http://badgertronics.com
   "...kibbles don't sniffle."
   -- jebuspwns


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