2.5 Name clashes

When writing a file to disk, its long name or short name may collide with an already existing file or directory. This may happen for all commands which create new directory entries, such as mcopy, mmd, mren, mmove. When a name clash happens, mtools asks you what it should do. It offers several choices:

overwrite

Overwrites the existing file. It is not possible to overwrite a directory with a file.

rename

Renames the newly created file. Mtools prompts for the new filename

autorename

Renames the newly created file. Mtools chooses a name by itself, without prompting

skip

Gives up on this file, and moves on to the next (if any)

To chose one of these actions, type its first letter at the prompt. If you use a lower case letter, the action only applies for this file only, if you use an upper case letter, the action applies to all files, and you won’t be prompted again.

You may also chose actions (for all files) on the command line, when invoking mtools:

-D o

Overwrites primary names by default.

-D O

Overwrites secondary names by default.

-D r

Renames primary name by default.

-D R

Renames secondary name by default.

-D a

Autorenames primary name by default.

-D A

Autorenames secondary name by default.

-D s

Skip primary name by default.

-D S

Skip secondary name by default.

-D m

Ask user what to do with primary name.

-D M

Ask user what to do with secondary name.

Note that for command line switches lower/upper differentiates between primary/secondary name whereas for interactive choices, lower/upper differentiates between just-this-time/always.

The primary name is the name as displayed in Windows 95 or Windows NT: i.e. the long name if it exists, and the short name otherwise. The secondary name is the "hidden" name, i.e. the short name if a long name exists.

By default, the user is prompted if the primary name clashes, and the secondary name is autorenamed.

If a name clash occurs in a Unix directory, mtools only asks whether to overwrite the file, or to skip it.