If spaces in filenames are possible, why do some of us still avoid using them?

Question

Somebody I know expressed irritation today regarding those of us who tend not to use spaces in our filenames, e.g. NamingThingsLikeThis.txt -- despite most modern operating systems supporting spaces in filenames. Non-technical people must look at filenames created by geeks and wonder where we learned English.

So, what are the reasons that spaces in filenames are avoided or discouraged?

The most obvious reason I could think of, and why I typically avoid it, are the extra quotes required on the command line when dealing with such files.

Are there any other significant reasons, other than the practice being a vestigial preference?

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UPDATE: Thanks for all your answers! I'm surprised how popular this was. So, here's a summary:

Six Reasons Why Geeks Prefer Filenames Without Spaces In Them

1. It's irritating to put quotes around them when referenced on the command line (or elsewhere.)
2. Some older operating systems didn't used to support them and us old dogs are used to that.
3. Some tools still don't support spaces in filenames at all or very well. (But they should.)
4. It's irritating to escape spaces when used where spaces must be escaped, such as URLs.
5. Certain unenlightened services (e.g. file hosting, webmail) remove or replace spaces anyway!
6. Names without spaces can be shorter, which is sometimes desirable as paths are limited.

Answer 1

Whitespace characters in filenames can be a right royal pain in the proverbial in many contexts on the command line, and in scripts, where you have to be careful to make sure they are properly escaped so don't look like separators to the commands you are running.

It is just safer not to have them there, even if you are sure the file/dir/what-ever is never going to be used in such a context.

That, and old habits die hard.

Answer 2

In addition to the other answers about command line and old habits, there are also many network protocols which require special care when dealing with filenames containing spaces.

(If you've ever tried to download "Product List.pdf" from a website, and ended up with a file just called "Product", you got bitten by this, because the programmer on the other end didn't know or couldn't figure out the quoting rules for the http Content-Disposition header.)

Answer 3

I do it because spaces become %20's in file names on the web, which makes it harder to manage my site's assets. Image 1.png and Image%201.png is comfusing. It's easier to use Image001.png. This really falls under the same category as escape sequences for command line.

Answer 4

So, what are the reasons that spaces in filenames are avoided or discouraged?

1. old habits die hard :)

2. some file and image hosting services change the filemanes if spaces are involved.

Answer 5

I do it for elbow-case avoidance. I know this_will_work.txt will work in all cases. I would just rather not deal with the small percentage of cases/applications that don't work with spaces in a file name; especially when I'm sending a file to someone else.

Answer 6

I avoid spaces for files that are part of the software I work on, because handling spaces with GNU Make is a pain.

Answer 7

e.g. NamingThingsLikeThis.txt

Like already mentioned, old habits die hard.

The example you have given is a perfect proof of it: The file could actually have the extension "Text", that is, "NamingThingsLikeThis.text".

Answer 8

It's nice to be able to type filenames without having to worry about quoting or escaping. (Then again, I have some files named ?????.)

Also, bash sucks with spaces inside parameters.

But ultimately, I suppose it's because I'm a programmer. Files containing works with formal titles, like videos or music or ebooks, are spaced and capitalized correctly. But mere identifiers are written how I write any identifier: foo-bar-baz.

Answer 9

I agree that old habits are the reason.

This discussion leads me to think that the best reason to kill this old habit is to improve my code. Non-programmers will use spaces in their file names. If my code misbehaves because it isn't expecting a space, then it's my fault -- not the fault of the user.

Any programmer's first tendency is to test with his or her standard behavior. If my filenames don't contain spaces, I'm not testing well.

Answer 10

Sometimes, spaces can present a problem when dealing on the command line, or when using older OS's, or when writing programs which will be compiled on different OS's, or when ... there are many reasons which can present problematic, and I don't really feel it is such a trouble to write the file as: file-without-blanks.txt or *file_without_blanks.txt*. I prefer the dask because the underscore can sometimes become invisible when dealing with, for example, underlined font.

But mostly, it is a matter of habit from the old age. Which I don't feel there are enough pro reasons to abandon.

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An additional note, possibly not related, but nevertheless I'll put it here. People who name their files with spaces usually do not think much of that; the ones who don't often know a little of why it is good to avoid them in filenames.
And, we can all agree, there is nothing worse than a file which is names "Dear Sir or Madam, I'm writing you this letter to inform you of yo.doc".

Not just spaces - file length also counts for something, and IMHO, it should not be longer than, let's say, 30 characters. For long file names with spaces inside are also a blessing when recording CD's, DVD's and such which need to be read under older OS's, and in between Win and *nix plaforms.

Answer 11

I use spaces in filenames, when it seems logical. Readability is priority. Software, which does not work correctly with such filenames, is moved to trash :)

Answer 12

Like you said, they are a lot easier to deal with on the command line. And for programming is I am not sure if it is even possible or feasible to use spaces in filenames.