<P> Unix - like file systems allow a file to have more than one name; in traditional Unix - style file systems, the names are hard links to the file's inode or equivalent . Windows supports hard links on NTFS file systems, and provides the command fsutil in Windows XP, and mklink in later versions, for creating them . Hard links are different from Windows shortcuts, classic Mac OS / macOS aliases, or symbolic links . The introduction of LFNs with VFAT allowed filename aliases . For example, longfi ~ 1.??? with a maximum of eight plus three characters was a filename alias of "long file name.???" as a way to conform to 8.3 limitations for older programs . </P> <P> This property was used by the move command algorithm that first creates a second filename and then only removes the first filename . </P> <P> Other filesystems, by design, provide only one filename per file, which guarantees that alteration of one filename's file does not alter the other filename's file . </P> <P> Some filesystems restrict the length of filenames . In some cases, these lengths apply to the entire file name, as in 44 characters on IBM S / 370 . In other cases, the length limits may apply to particular portions of the filename, such as the name of a file in a directory, or a directory name . For example, 9 (e.g., 8 - bit FAT in Standalone Disk BASIC), 11 (e.g. FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 in DOS), 14 (e.g. early Unix), 21 (Human68K), 31, 30 (e.g. Apple DOS 3.2 and 3.3), 15 (e.g. Apple ProDOS), 44 (e.g. IBM S / 370), or 255 (e.g. early Berkeley Unix) characters or bytes . Length limits often result from assigning fixed space in a filesystem to storing components of names, so increasing limits often requires an incompatible change, as well as reserving more space . </P>

What is maximum length allowed for primary name of computer file under dos