Is ":" allowed in a folder name in Android?

Question

Can we put ":" in the name of a folder?

For example if I want that the name of my file(case) is the hour of today (on this form 14:38).

String outString = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy hh-mm-ss").format(new Date());
File dossierphoto = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() +
                             "/Dossier Client/" +
                             cli.getClientId() + "/" +
                             outString);

Have you tried it? What did it do? Did you get any error messages? Try that first, then update your question accordingly — Matt Taylor, Mar 26 '14 at 13:49
Please do some research with respect to allowable characters in filesystem names. Also, don't use `dd-MM-yyyy` for a date format - it doesn't sort well - use a big-endian ISO-8601 format such as `yyyy-MM-dd` instead. Also use HH instead of hh in order to use 24 hour clock format - 12 hour clock format also doesn't sort well. — Squonk, Mar 26 '14 at 14:05

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 26 '14 at 13:52

No you can not put ":" char on folder name. You can use "_" char instead of ":". For example: 14_38.

Of course, you should change this char auto.

File dossierphoto = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/Dossier Client/" + cli.getClientId() + "/" + outString.replace(":","_"));

Is ":" allowed in a folder name in Android?

1 Answers1