We recommend that you read a typeset version of this document rather than the plain text version. In the typeset version, the names of files and directories are displayed in a constant-width font.
Components of filenames that vary are represented by a description
of the contents enclosed in "<" and
">" characters, 
<thus>.  Electronic mail addresses are also
enclosed in "<" and ">" but are shown in the usual
typeface.
Optional components of filenames are enclosed in
"[" and "]" characters and may
be combined with the "<" and
">" convention.  For example, if a filename is
allowed to occur either with or without an extension, it might be
represented by
<filename>[.<extension>].
Variable substrings of directory names and filenames are indicated
by "*".
The sections of the text marked as Rationale are explanatory and are non-normative.