Issues with spaces in folder names when using CMD prompt

[Megan2682]

Hi Guys

I wonder if you can help ... I have a folder that I want to export the file names within into a text file. The problem I'm having is that because the path of the file has spaces in it, it's not working correctly, and after searching the internet I can't seem to fix the problem.

For example the following works fine: (please note that I have had to remove the "my" from "my documents" to make it work ... which i also do not understand)

dir C:\Users\Megan\Documents\Documents\fun\ >C:\Users\Megan\Documents\Documents\fun\filelist.t xt

Could somebody please tell me how to edit the following so this works too (which shows the true path of the folder):

dir C:\Users\Megan\My Documents\My Documents\BV BioSculpture Manicures\Financials\Receipts\ >C:\Users\Megan\My Documents\My Documents\BV BioSculpture Manicures\Financials\Receipts\Filelist.txt

Thanks for your help guys ... And apologies if this is a simple question ... but anything involving the CMD Prompt is not my forte!

Thanks

Megan x

[grumpy]

Surround the path with double quote characters.

dir "C:\Users\Megan\My Documents\My Documents\BV BioSculpture Manicures\Financials\Receipts\" >"C:\Users\Megan\My Documents\My Documents\BV BioSculpture Manicures\Financials\Receipts\Filelist.txt"

[Megan2682]

Hi Grumpy

I tried that but annoyingly it didn't work ... then just on the off chance i deleted the "my"s from the 2 folders named "My Documents" ... and bingo ... so thanks for your help

My question would then be, why does the CMD Prompt not like the work "my", which seems very strange considering the folders name is "my documents", and especially when the second folder was created by myself?

Thanks

Megan X

[adeyblue]

Because Windows Vista and 7 changed their names. Hence why you are accessing the paths via 'C:\Users' and not 'C:\Documents and Settings'

[Mario F.]

My question would then be, why does the CMD Prompt not like the work "my", which seems very strange considering the folders name is "my documents", and especially when the second folder was created by myself?

Starting with Windows Vista, the name "My Documents" was changed to "Documents". However, for backwards compatibility, the "My" prefix had to remain somehow. This would allow older programs that depended on this folder to find it.

If you type the following on a console you'll get a file not found message:

dir C:\Users\Megan\My Documents\

Whereas without the "My" prefix you do see your Documents folder contents. If you the go to Windows Explorer and navigate to that location, it shows the folder named as "My Documents". This I agree is confusing as hell. What is going on is that "My Documents" is in fact a Junction Point. An alias to the name Documents. Starting with Windows Vista, "My Documents" doesn't actually exist. It simply points to the actual folder named "Documents". Older applications can thus still function. So, from Windows Vista onwards, you should always use "Documents" instead of "My Documents".

So, what about the second folder, the "My Documents" you created yourself? Here's where you need to provide more information on how you actually created that folder. For all purposes, the name "My Documents" is a valid name. Both the windows console and explorer allow me to create "My Documents" inside the "Documents" folder. So what you are saying about the second folder doesn't make sense unless something else happened.