I want to name a file containing special characters, but I get an error when I try to do so
with open('My filename: one | two.txt', 'a') as f:
f.write('something')
and get this error :
OSError: [Errno 22] Invalid argument: 'My filename: one | two.txt'
How can I name a file containing special characters?
It depends on the OS, but for Microsoft, these are the specific characters not allowed in filenames and vertical bar (|) is one of them.
From https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file:
Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:
The following reserved characters:
- < (less than)
- > (greater than)
- : (colon)
- " (double quote)
- / (forward slash)
- \ (backslash)
- | (vertical bar or pipe)
- ? (question mark)
- * (asterisk) Integer value zero, sometimes referred to as the ASCII NUL character.
Characters whose integer representations are in the range from 1 through 31, except for alternate data streams where these characters are allowed. For more information about file streams, see File Streams.
Any other character that the target file system does not allow.
