Correct wording -- caps in file names

[Earl Morton <WorkgWords -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

RE:
>>
    While we're more or less on the subject, is there a globally accepted,
    correct, set in stone convention for setting in text the names of
    files? I typically use all caps (CONFIG.SYS), and a different font from
    the body text.  But nowadays -- I guess all days, in Macintosh Land --
    with long file names (filenames) and mixed case, am I just showing my
    age?
<<

A great deal of "acceptable" usage depends on the environment: UNIX, Mac,
Windows, etc. I work mostly in the Windows environment, so I use the
Microsoft Manual of Style as a guide. It says (on p. 70):

  For new and revised documentation for Windows and the Macintosh, use
  title caps for file names and directory and drive names. Use all lowercase
  for extensions.

  Correct:
    .com file
    C:\Tax\April95
    My Tax File, 1995

  You can use internal caps for readability in concatenated file names if
they
  won't be confused with function names, as in "MyTaxFile."

  If the documentation is in transition--that is, if not all of it is being
revised,
  or the schedule doesn't allow for change--use the previous file name
  convention of all uppercase, as in "C:\TAX\APRIL95.XLS."

I don't accept the MS manual as gospel, by any means (they break their own
rules too often), but at least it is good advice, and I try to follow it
unless I have specific reasons to  disagree.

Earl Morton