Most common characters can be used in naming files. However, the following characters are reserved and cannot be used in a file name:
The following is for Windows machines.
< (Less than)
> (Greater than)
: (Colon)
" (Double quote)
/ (Forward slash)
\ (Backslash)
| (Vertical bar or pipe)
? (Question mark)
* (Asterisk)
Avoiding Special Characters
The most conservative filenaming conventions provide the most cross-platform compatibility. This means that your file names will work on different operating systems, such as Windows, Mac OS X and other UNIX operating systems, and Mac OS 9. You also need to consider file naming when you transfer files via the Internet, where you can never be certain what computer platform your files may be stored on, even if temporarily.
Most special characters should be avoided. Here are some suggested conservative file naming guidelines for maximum cross-platform compatibility:
The following is for MAC machines:
: (colon)
/ (Forward-slash)
\ (Backward-slash)
¢ ™ (native alphabet)
. , [ ] { } ( ) ! ; " ' * ? < > | (Punctuation marks, Parentheses, Quotation marks, Brackets, and Operators)