Long story.

Client has been using WP 5.1 for DOS - w/WP's "long" file and directory names.

I was hired to convert the files (> 50,000) and directories (about 1,000) into the long names used by WP. (There is a macro, I believe to do one file at a time).

I wrote a program to do this, and, lo and behold, some of the renamed directories now have characters in them that Windows won't deal with - something like:
_
|

OK, I wrote a program to find the DOS name of the directory and delete the files and directory using the DOS name, rather than the long WIndows name.

OK...that works for all the files that have the weird character in a location after the 6th. But I now have about 20 directories that have the character in the first 6 characters of the directory name, so I'm having trouble accessing the directory to delete the file and the directory.

I can move the top level directory "DelCLients", w/all the sub directories to another location on the hard drive. Thought I could just move it to a Zip drive, then format the Zip, but Windows won't let me move them off the hard drive OR rename them in Explorer OR delete them in Explorer. Explorer gives an error when I even click on a directory with that character in the name.

Any adivce? suggestions?

I'm sitting here waiting for the power to go out, as there is a Typhoon/Tropical Storm in the area, so any input is appreciated, but I don't know when I'll be back here...(luckily, I live in the 2nd floor of a concrete building)....I'm all boarded up and stocked up w/water, ice, etc.

Cheers, J