MAX_PATH 还是 MAX_PATH + 1 ？

MAX_PATH 还是 MAX_PATH + 1 ？ | Demon's Blog
http://demon.tw/programming/max_path-or-max_path-1.html

标签： C, C语言, MAX_PATH, NUL, Windows API

标题: MAX_PATH 还是 MAX_PATH + 1 ？
作者: Demon
链接: http://demon.tw/programming/max_path-or-max_path-1.html
版权: 本博客的所有文章，都遵守“署名-非商业性使用-相同方式共享 2.5 中国大陆”协议条款。

很多人以为 Windows 限制文件最长路径或目录最长路径是 260 个字符，所以经常写以下代码：

//特别加1用来保存 NUL 结束符
TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH + 1];

其实是错误的，MSDN 上已经说的很清楚了：

In the Windows API (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), the maximum length for a path is MAX_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters. A local path is structured in the following order: drive letter, colon, backslash, name components separated by backslashes, and a terminating null character. For example, the maximum path on drive D is "D:*some 256-character path string*" where "" represents the invisible terminating null character for the current system codepage. (The characters < > are used here for visual clarity and cannot be part of a valid path string.)

除了下面段落讨论的一些例外，在 Windows API 中路径的最大长度是 260 个字符，例如，D 盘中最长的路径为：

D:\some 256-character path string<NUL>

可以看出这 260 个字符中已经包含了C语言字符串的 NUL 结束符，即文件路径最长只能包含 259 个可见字符。

同时，目录路径还有另一个限制：

When using an API to create a directory, the specified path cannot be so long that you cannot append an 8.3 file name (that is, the directory name cannot exceed MAX_PATH minus 12).

也就是说，目录路径最多只能包含 248 个可见字符。

综上所述，正确的写法应该是：

TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH];