Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

This section describes the format of temporary directory configuration files. The format is the same for files at all four levels: user_machine, user, install_machine, and install. These files are text files, so any text editor may be used to modify or create them.

An example temporary directory configuration file is shown below:

$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='C:/TEMP/AnsysEM'

$end 'Config'

The temporary directory specified by this configuration file is C:/TEMP/AnsysEM.

Important:
  • The string containing the pathname of the temporary directory must be enclosed in single quotes.
  • The forward slash (/) may be used as a directory separator on Windows and Linux. The backslash (\) may be used as a directory separator on Windows only.
  • The backslash (\) is used as an escape character in the tempdirectory string. That it, this character removes the special meaning of the following character.
  • The single quote character normally ends the tempdirectory string. The backslash may be used to remove this special meaning, and include a single quote in the string.
  • To use a backslash as a directory separator on Windows, it must be escaped. That is, a double backslash "\\" is used to denote a single directory separator.
  • On Windows, a UNC path normally begins with two backslash characters. In a tempdirectory string, each of these backslash characters must be doubled, so four consecutive backslashes "\\\\" are used in the config file.

Example: Config File with UNC

$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='\\\\hostxyz\\TEMP\\abc'

$end 'Config'

Here, hostxyz is a host with a sharename TEMP having subdirectory abc used as the temporarydirectory. This shows that four backslashes are required for UNC names and that backslashes used as directory separators must be doubled.

Example: Config File with Single Quote

$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='C:/TEMP/ab\'cd'

$end 'Config'

Temporary directory is C:/TEMP/ab'cd. This shows how to include a single quote in a tempdirectory pathname. It also shows that forward slashes may be used as directory separators on Windows.