Beginning and trailing spaces are trimmed from directory names on remote folders

[Chris Johnsen]

If a directory name on a remote server begins or ends with a space, FileZilla appears to trim the space(s) and the user is unable to work with the directory (list contents, rename, etc.)

I have tested and was able to reproduce on Windows, OS X and CentOS 6.4.

To reproduce, create a folder with a name that starts with or ends with a space. Attempt to list the contents of this folder from FileZilla.

The log window reads:

Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD /
Response: 250 Directory successfully changed.
Command: CWD Testing with Space
Response: 550 Failed to change directory.
Error: Failed to retrieve directory listing

[Alexander Schuch]

​https://wiki.filezilla-project.org/Limitations

Do you use LIST or MLSD? If you do not know, please provide logs.

[Chris Johnsen]

We use LIST.

[Alexander Schuch]

As written in the Wiki (​https://wiki.filezilla-project.org/Limitations):

FileZilla ignores leading space of filename or directory

This happens on FTP servers not supporting the MLSD command. On those servers FileZilla falls back to LIST. Unfortunately the listing format returned by LIST is not standardised. It is impossible to distinguish leading spaces from padding. To solve this issue, simply upgrade to a modern server supporting the MLSD command or refrain from using leading spaces.