Short and long path name on Windows (MEX)

Conversion between short and long form of path name on Windows
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Updated 5 Jan 2015

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getShortPath converts a path name (or a file name) to its short form (MSDOS 8.3). getLongPath do the opposite.
getShortPath is useful to deal with poorly formed path (eg path name with special characters or spaces) when using the dos builtin function. No need to add double quotes to the path name.
For example, to open a file nammed "un fichier mal nommé.txt" with Notepad++. The following command fails:
dos('C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe un fichier mal nommé.txt')

You need to add double quotes:

dos('"C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" "un fichier mal nommé.txt"')

Or use getShortPath:

notepadShortPath = getShortPath('C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe');
fileShortPath = getShortPath('un fichier mal nommé.txt');
cmd = sprintf('%s %s', notepadShortPath, fileShortPath);
dos(cmd)

The short form paths are:

notepadShortPath =

C:\PROGRA~2\NOTEPA~1\NOTEPA~1.EXE

fileShortPath =

UNFICH~1.TXT

Codes are based on the Win32 API and therefore are only supported on Windows systems. Compile MEX files first.

Cite As

Jerome Briot (2024). Short and long path name on Windows (MEX) (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/48949-short-and-long-path-name-on-windows-mex), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2014b
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
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Version Published Release Notes
1.4.0.0

Title updated

1.3.0.0

Typo in the example

1.2.0.0

Better example

1.1.0.0

Minor update

1.0.0.0