Filename Collision Plan

Plan exact-case filename collisions using numbered suffixes before the final extension, reserving all requested names; no files are touched.

Description

Plan exact-case filename collisions using numbered suffixes before the final extension, reserving all requested names; no files are touched.

A filename plan can avoid both occupied names and names that later requests still need. Planning is separate from renaming.

When to use this tool

Plan exact-case filename collisions using numbered suffixes before the final extension, reserving all requested names; no files are touched.

Prepare the supplied names, occupied fields for this operation.
Compare the complete example with the representation used by your own input before carrying the result into another step.

How to use the tool and how it works

Enter names, occupied. Use the exact text syntax, units and index conventions explained below.
Run the tool. If input validation fails, correct the supplied fields before interpreting any result.
Read result.plannedNames. Interpret false, null and empty lists using the distinctions below; they can be valid outputs.

Validate names and occupied filenames. Reserve all original names, keep an unassigned name when available, otherwise try stem plus space-parenthesized positive numbers before its final extension until unused. Return plannedNames in input order.^[1]

Input field	Meaning and representation	Accepted input
names	names.	At most 128 strings, each at most 128 UTF-16 code units
occupied	occupied.	At most 128 strings, each at most 128 UTF-16 code units

Output field	Interpretation
result	Object containing the named outputs below.
result.plannedNames	The planned names list in the ordering and representation described above.

json

{
  "input": {
    "names": [
      "a.txt",
      "a.txt"
    ],
    "occupied": []
  },
  "output": {
    "result": {
      "plannedNames": [
        "a.txt",
        "a (1).txt"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Equality is exact and case-sensitive. No files are changed or atomically reserved, and concurrent filesystem changes can invalidate the plan.
Every declared top-level field is required and unexpected fields are rejected. Numeric inputs must be finite; ordinary text fields are bounded to 8,192 UTF-16 code units, with tighter operation-specific limits where stated.
String lists have at most 128 entries of at most 128 code units; matrices have at most 128 rows and columns. Larger numeric lists and parsed JSON have separate bounded budgets. Nonfinite results and excessively large serialized outputs are rejected.
Indexes are zero-based and spans have an exclusive end unless explicitly stated otherwise. A valid false, null or empty-list result is distinct from malformed input.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use a filesystem-aware implementation with appropriate platform semantics for actual file operations. Literal slash components, Unicode comparison and filename plans do not resolve symlinks or atomically reserve a destination.

References

Tool behavior and example: Filename Collision Plan — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Filename Casefold Collision Table
Audit the bounded ASCII case-insensitive filename branch; rejects non-ASCII rather than pretend lowercasing implements full Unicode case folding.
Filename Unicode Normalization Collision Table
Audit filenames colliding after an explicit Unicode normalization form; no assumption about the target filesystem normalization policy.