File Name Conventions
The filenames for TSs and TRs abide by a rigid convention. The filename consists of the spec number minus the dot after the second digit, followed by a hyphen, followed by three digits representing the version number. All files are stored compressed since this not only saves storage space (in most cases) and therefore speeds up downloads, but also serves to group the components of specs which are comprised of multiple files. Hence all specs have the file extension ".zip".
Since only one character space was originally available for each of the three components of the version number, these characters are coded in base 36.
The following table shows the rendering of numbers for the three-character version numbering system used by the vast majority of specs.
version subfield value | filename character |
|---|---|
1 | 1 |
2 | 2 |
-- | -- |
9 | 9 |
10 | a |
11 | b |
-- | -- |
15 | f |
16 | g |
17 | h |
-- | -- |
33 | x |
34 | y |
35 | z |
However, for a very few specs in older Releases, there have been more than 35 technical versions. In these rare cases, the number of characters in the filename representing the version number has been extended from three to six, alotting two characters to each part of the version, coded as decimal numbers from 00 to 99. (There is no provision to cater for version fields values greater than 99.)
The alphabetic characters are case-insensitive, but conventionally are rendered in lower case.
Thus TR 21.900 v15.1.1 has a filename 21900-f11.zip containing 21900-f11.doc. And TS 24.229 v8.37.0 has a filename 24229-083700.zip containing 24229-083700.doc
Multi-part specs
Specs with more than one part have those parts identified by a number following the main spec number, separated by a hyphen. For example 51.010-1. Where there are more than nine parts, to ensure correct sort order of lists of specs, a leading zero is inserted where necessary to the part number, which then becomes two digits, for example 29.198-08.
Some specs have parts with subparts, and the same convention applies: for example 29.998-06-2.
The spec number is a string rather than a number or a set of numbers, and in searches etc any leading zero must be entered if the spec is to be correctly identified. The convention is reflected in the spec document itself, and in its filename. Thus the filenames for these examples:
version subfield value | filename character | |
|---|---|---|
51.010-1 | version 7.12.0 | 51010-1-7c0.zip |
29.198-08 | version 6.5.1 | 29198-08-651.zip |
29.998-06-2 | version 8.0.0 | 29998-06-2-800.zip |
Thus TR 36.714-05-01 v0.7.0 has a filename 36714-05-01-070.zip containing 36714-05-01-070.doc.
Multi-file specs
Some very long specs become unmanageable for maintenance when they consist of a single file, and are consequently split into several Word files. The filename of each bears a suffix which, when the files are sorted in alphanumeric order, indicates its place in the composite document. For example, TS 51.010-1, stored in file 51010-1-d80.zip, having around 10,000 pages, is composed of 30 Word files:
51010-1-d80_cover.doc
51010-1-d80_s00-s11doc
51010-1-d80_s12-s13doc
51010-1-d80_s14doc
51010-1-d80_s15-s20doc
...
51010-1-d80_s80-90doc
51010-1-d80_sAnnexes_Adoc
51010-1-d80_sAnnexes_Bdoc
File type
Specs are stored in Microsoft Word format with the extension .dot or .dotx. Some specs need additional, ancillary files. These can be in any format, for example .xlsx, .csv, .c, .h, .txt, etc according to the function of the file.
All files relating to a single spec are packed into a single .zip file, even if - as is the case for the majority of specs - the spec consists of only a single Word file.