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Concept
Filename extension
Summary
A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the of a (for example, .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically delimited from the rest of the filename with a full stop (period), but in some systems it is separated with spaces. Other extension formats include dashes and/or underscores on early versions of Linux and some versions of IBM AIX.
Some s implement filename extensions as a feature of the file system itself and may limit the length and format of the extension, while others treat filename extensions as part of the filename without special distinction.
Filesystems for UNIX-like operating systems do not separate the extension metadata from the rest of the file name. The dot character is just another character in the main filename. A file name may have no extensions. Sometimes it is said to have more than one extension, although terminology varies in this regard, and most authors define extension in a way that does not allow more than one in the same file name. More than one extension usually represents nested transformations, such as files.tar.gz (the .tar indicates that the file is a tar archive of one or more files, and the .gz indicates that the tar archive file is compressed with gzip). Programs transforming or creating files may add the appropriate extension to names inferred from input file names (unless explicitly given an output file name), but programs reading files usually ignore the information; it is mostly intended for the human user.
It is more common, especially in binary files, for the file to contain or metadata describing its contents.
This model generally requires the full filename to be provided in commands, whereas the metadata approach often allows the extension to be omitted.
The VFAT, NTFS, and ReFS file systems for Windows also do not separate the extension metadata from the rest of the file name, and allow multiple extensions.
Official source
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