Filespec

In MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, a filespec is a term meaning a filename identifier that may, but because of wildcard characters isn't necessarily required to, refer to just one file.

In the history of MS-DOS, filenames were once limited to an "8.3 format", meaning that a filename always consisted of 1 to 8 characters, then a period, then an extension of 1 to 3 more characters. A filespec followed the same format as well, and could include wildcards such as * and ?, with the significant exception that the period was an immutable part of the file name that could not be represented by a wildcard. This gave rise to the commonly known filespec *.*, often pronounced "star dot star".

All current versions of Microsoft Windows support filenames that are not constrained to any of the rules relating to 8.3 filenames or the period. The internal processing rules for a filespec in these newer versions of Windows is more relaxed, such that wildcards in the old format that respect the immutable period function correctly, as well as ones that treat the period like any other character.

ee also

*File system
*Long filename
*Path (computing)