As of v1.8.10., this is the full list of characters that Obsidian does not allow to put in filename from within the app. As shown by the red tooltips that appear when you attempt to input a forbidden character in a filename.
All OSes:
[]#^|
Filename must not start with a dot.
macOS, iOS, iPadOS and Linux:
\/:
Windows:
*"\/<>:|?
Android:
\/:*?<>"
Square brackets are actually allowed (maybe some of the others too but I don’t want to fiddle with these now). I do not know since when. But I agree that in markdown editors it is not desirable when using Wikilinks.
I found out (again?) recently myself, actually…
If you mistakenly add an extra [ to a wikilink, like so, [[[Notename]], and you are in Live Preview and click on the link to create the file, a [Notename file will be created, in vanilla Obsidian as well.
In LP, the extra opening bracket is not seen because somehow it merges with the opening double square brackets…? It could be a bug and it may have been reported…?
It’s not the case with the closing one, it seems. Escaped double square brackets are to be used for these cases, of course, but mistakes happen.
Because I often use the editorial square brackets (and may miss the escapes), sometimes I run into these problems. I want to click into a known file and I see a new file being created, with [.
Not a huge issue, as you can easily delete the file created afterwards.
One can have a Codescript Toolkit .ts patch made to not allow these files created. I did because I also wanted to disallow file creation for filenames already in my vault. I don’t relish the automatic renames of my links to include folders so I’d have [[folder/filename|alias]]. Not ideal for longform writers.
The post lists all characters that Obsidian prevents from entering into filenames from within the app. All OSes reflects this tooltip:
Some of these characters may be allowed in filenames outside Obsidian, and Obsidian will display such files but internal links won’t work.
Okay, I updated from 1.8.9 to 1.8.10 in case my older version was at fault.
Nope.
BTW, it looks like the [ only goes invisible if you have an alias:
Source Mode:
No alias:
Clicking on the link will create the file:
If I want to create a [Testfile3 file, Obsidian also allows me to do it, within Obsidian.
I never talked about any other app above.
So obviously the title is wrong or Obsidian doesn’t do what it should guard against.
Hence I made a patch .ts, which I disabled for the duration of making the screenshots.
Just checking: it appears that apostrophes or single quotes are allowed—is that accurate? Obsidian doesn’t complain if I put a single quote in a note title or alias, and my YAML appears to render correctly.
