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title Path Field Limits | Microsoft Docs
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ms.date 11/04/2016
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cpp-standard-libraries
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ms.topic article
f1_keywords
_MAX_EXT
_MAX_DIR
_MAX_PATH
_MAX_FNAME
_MAX_DRIVE
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C++
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path field constants
MAX_FNAME constant
_MAX_DIR constant
_MAX_DRIVE constant
paths, maximum limit
_MAX_PATH constant
MAX_DRIVE constant
_MAX_FNAME constant
_MAX_EXT constant
MAX_DIR constant
MAX_EXT constant
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Path Field Limits

Syntax

#include <stdlib.h>

Remarks

These constants define the maximum length for the path and for the individual fields within the path.

Constant Meaning
_MAX_DIR Maximum length of directory component
_MAX_DRIVE Maximum length of drive component
_MAX_EXT Maximum length of extension component
_MAX_FNAME Maximum length of filename component
_MAX_PATH Maximum length of full path

Note

The C Runtime supports path lengths up to 32768 characters in length, but it is up to the operating system, specifically the file system, to support these longer paths. The sum of the fields should not exceed _MAX_PATH for full backwards compatibility with FAT32 file systems. [!INCLUDEwin2kfamily], [!INCLUDEWinXpFamily], [!INCLUDEWinXPSvr], and Windows Vista NTFS file system supports paths up to 32768 characters in length, but only when using the Unicode APIs. When using long path names, prefix the path with the characters \\?\ and use the Unicode versions of the C Runtime functions.

See Also

Global Constants