Rename file in Win32 to name with only differences in capitalization

Question

Does anyone know a pure Win32 solution for renaming a file and only changing its capitalization, that does not involve intermediate renaming to a different name or special privileges (e.g. backup, restore).

Since the Win32 subsystem generally regards two file names differing only in capitalization as the same, I haven't been able to find any solution to the problem.

Answer 1

A test program I made with the MoveFile API seems to work. So does the rename command in cmd.exe. What have you tried, and what error are you getting?

This isn't relevant, but further testing shows that renaming a long filename in this way works but will change the short filename (alternating between ~1 and ~2 for example), incidentally.

Answer 2

Just use the normal MoveFile API. That call probably just turns into ZwSetInformationFile(..., FileRenameInformation,...) The docs for FILE_RENAME_INFORMATION states that you need DELETE access and the file can't be locked etc, but those restrictions will probably apply to other solutions also.

Answer 3

I do not believe there is a way to expose two files with identical names that differ only in spelling to the Win32 subsystem. Even if some how you were able to create these files, the most likely result would be that only one file would be accessible - defeating the purpose of staying soley in Win32.

If you want to go into the Native layer, you can create a file with NtCreateFile and InitializeObjectAttributes w/o OBJ_CASE_INSENSITIVE or you can pad the end with extra spaces (if you pad with extra spaces, the file will not be accessible from Win32 dos paths). See here: http://www.osronline.com/ddkx/kmarch/k109_66uq.htm . I'm pretty sure you were already aware but I included it incase you did not know.

Answer 4

So long as your file is not immediately needed by another program, you can use my solution.

When you rename the file, capitalize, and delete the last letter. Then rename again and return the letter.

:)