Item Text Copied In The Finder

TECHINFO-0020379

TOPIC

The clipboard seems to be unusually limited in its capacity to hold text when it comes to copying the contents of a Finder window.

I opened a Finder window which contained many files and select them all. I then chose the Show Clipboard command under the Edit menu and only 10 to 15 items typically appeared. I was able to reproduce this with either 680x0-based, or PowerPC-based computers running System 7.5.3.

Chalk this a clipboard peculiarity?

DISCUSSION

There is a 256 byte limit for item text copied in the Finder. This means the number of characters you would be able to copy from a set of items is 256 minus the number of items, and the Finder will not copy partial names. The number of items enters into it because a carriage return character (0x0D) is copied along with every item. This limit does not apply to icons.

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