case sensitive ==>
case sensitivity
<text> Whether a text matching operation distinguishes upper-case
(capital) letters from lower case (is "case sensitive") or not ("case
insensitive").
Case in file names should be preserved (for readability) but ignored when
matching (so the user doesn't have to get it right). MS-DOS does not preserve
case in file names, Unix preserves case and matches are case sensitive.
Any decent text editor will allow the user to specify whether or not text
searches should be case sensitive.
Case sensitivity is also relevant in programming (most programming languages
distiguish between case in the names of identifiers), and addressing (Internet
domain names are case insensitive but RFC 822 local mailbox names are case
sensitive).
Case insensitive operations are sometimes said to "fold case", from the idea of
folding the character code table so that upper and lower case letters coincide.
The alternative "smash case" is more likely to be used by someone who considers
this behaviour a misfeature or in cases where one case is actually permanently
converted to the other.
"MS-DOS will automatically smash case in the names of all the files you create".
(1997-07-09)
Nearby terms:
Case Integration Services « CASE*Method « case
sensitive «
case sensitivity » CASE SOAP III » case
statement » CASE tools
|