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What is the longest file path that Windows can handle?

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I found the answer via google but thought I would import the answer and question into super user. – Ron Tuffin Jul 29 '09 at 8:07

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Maximum Path Length (from MSDN)

In the Windows API (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), the maximum length for a path is MAX_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters. A local path is structured in the following order: drive letter, colon, backslash, components separated by backslashes, and a terminating null character. For example, the maximum path on drive D is "D:\<some 256 character path string><NUL>" where "<NUL>" represents the invisible terminating null character for the current system codepage. (The characters < > are used here for visual clarity and cannot be part of a valid path string.)

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+1 It's stupid how people don't bother to upvote dead-easy yet just as important questions – Ivo Flipse♦ Jul 29 '09 at 8:21
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You should mention that you can handle paths that exceed this limit by prefixing it with `\\?` (I think it was that character sequence). – Joey Jul 29 '09 at 8:54
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This is very high on my top-two things I hate about windows... – JesperE Jul 29 '09 at 17:37
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you should also state the limit for unicode-paths mentioned in the 2nd paragraph: ~32k – akira Sep 28 '09 at 15:29
260? 256 characters ignoring drive:\ and terminator. It's 2009, why do we only get a byte of characters to play around with? – Phoshi Oct 11 '09 at 16:57
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XP file path- 250 characters

Vista file path - 260 characters

The longest path on a clean install of Windows XP is 152 characters.

The longest path on a semi-clean install of Windows Vista is 195 characters:

Windows XP allows file names upto 255 characters in length

Windows Vista allows even longer filenames containing upto 260 characters.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000729.html

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this is just true if you dont use the unicode-api, which extends the limit a bit (~32k, see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…) – akira Sep 28 '09 at 15:30
hmmm. at that rate, the limit in Win7 ought to be around 265 characters, no? – quack quixote Oct 11 '09 at 16:54
Why would they increase the limit by ten characters? Doesn't seem worth it, does it :\ – Phoshi Oct 11 '09 at 16:57

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