<s>
The	O
process	O
of	O
filename	B-Application
mangling	I-Application
,	O
in	O
computing	O
,	O
involves	O
a	O
translation	O
of	O
the	O
file	O
name	O
for	O
compatibility	O
at	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
occurs	O
when	O
a	O
filename	B-Device
on	O
a	O
filesystem	B-Application
appears	O
in	O
a	O
form	O
incompatible	O
with	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
accessing	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
mangling	O
occurs	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
on	O
computer	B-Architecture
networks	I-Architecture
when	O
a	O
Windows	B-Application
machine	O
attempts	O
to	O
access	O
a	O
file	O
on	O
a	O
Unix	B-Application
server	O
and	O
that	O
file	O
has	O
a	O
filename	B-Device
which	O
includes	O
characters	O
not	O
valid	O
in	O
Windows	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
common	O
example	O
of	O
name	O
mangling	O
occurs	O
on	O
VFAT	B-Application
file	B-Application
systems	I-Application
on	O
versions	O
of	O
Windows	B-Application
from	O
Windows	B-Application
95	I-Application
onwards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
VFAT	B-Application
specification	O
allows	O
Long	O
File	O
Names	O
(	O
LFNs	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
backwards-compatibility	O
with	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
and	O
older	O
Windows	B-Application
software	O
,	O
which	O
recognizes	O
filenames	B-Device
of	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
11	O
characters	O
in	O
length	O
with	O
8.3	O
format	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
:	O
an	O
eight-letter	O
filename	B-Device
,	O
a	O
dot	O
and	O
a	O
three-letter	O
extension	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
autoexec.bat	O
)	O
,	O
files	O
with	O
LFNs	O
get	O
stored	O
on	O
disk	O
in	O
8.3	O
format	O
(	O
longfilename.txt	O
becoming	O
longfi	O
~	O
1.txt	O
)	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
long	O
file	O
name	O
stored	O
elsewhere	O
on	O
the	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Normally	O
,	O
when	O
using	O
compatible	O
Windows	B-Application
programs	O
which	O
use	O
standard	O
Windows	B-Application
methods	O
of	O
reading	O
the	O
disk	O
,	O
the	O
I/O	B-General_Concept
subsystem	O
returns	O
the	O
long	O
filename	B-Device
to	O
the	O
program	O
however	O
,	O
if	O
an	O
old	O
DOS	O
application	O
or	O
an	O
old	O
Windows	B-Application
application	O
tries	O
to	O
address	O
the	O
file	O
,	O
it	O
will	O
use	O
the	O
older	O
,	O
8.3-only	O
APIs	O
,	O
or	O
work	O
at	O
a	O
lower	O
level	O
and	O
perform	O
its	O
own	O
disk	O
access	O
,	O
which	O
results	O
in	O
the	O
return	O
of	O
an	O
8.3	O
filename	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
case	O
,	O
the	O
filenames	B-Device
become	O
mangled	O
by	O
taking	O
the	O
first	O
six	O
non-space	O
characters	O
in	O
the	O
filename	B-Device
and	O
adding	O
a	O
tilde	O
(	O
~	O
)	O
and	O
then	O
a	O
number	O
to	O
ensure	O
the	O
uniqueness	O
of	O
the	O
8.3	O
filename	B-Device
on	O
the	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
technique	O
persists	O
today	O
when	O
people	O
use	O
DOSBox	B-Application
to	O
play	O
classic	O
DOS	O
games	O
or	O
use	O
Windows	B-Application
3.1	I-Application
in	O
conjunction	O
to	O
play	O
Win16	B-Library
games	O
on	O
64-bit	O
Windows	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unix	B-Application
file	O
names	O
can	O
contain	O
colons	O
or	O
backslashes	O
,	O
whereas	O
Windows	B-Application
interprets	O
such	O
characters	O
in	O
other	O
ways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Accordingly	O
,	O
software	O
could	O
mangle	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
file	O
"	O
Notes	O
:	O
11	O
\04\03	O
 "	O
as	O
"	O
Notes_	O
11-04-03	O
"	O
to	O
enable	O
Windows	B-Application
software	O
to	O
remotely	O
access	O
the	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
,	O
such	O
as	O
Samba	B-Language
on	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
use	O
different	O
mangling	O
systems	O
to	O
map	O
long	O
filenames	B-Device
to	O
DOS-compatible	O
filenames	B-Device
(	O
although	O
Samba	B-Language
administrators	O
can	O
configure	O
this	O
behavior	O
in	O
the	O
config	O
file	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
macOS	B-Application
's	O
Finder	B-Application
displays	O
instances	O
of	O
"	O
:	O
"	O
in	O
file	O
and	O
directory	O
names	O
with	O
a	O
"	O
/	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
because	O
the	O
classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
used	O
the	O
"	O
:	O
"	O
character	O
internally	O
as	O
a	O
path	O
separator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Listing	O
these	O
files	O
or	O
directories	O
using	O
a	O
terminal	B-Application
emulator	I-Application
displays	O
a	O
"	O
:	O
"	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
"	O
/	O
"	O
character	O
,	O
though	O
.	O
</s>
