2.2.1.3 UNC Path

A UNC path can be used to access network resources, and MUST be in the format specified by the Universal Naming Convention.

<servername>, <share> and <filename> are referred to as "pathname components" or "path components". A valid UNC path MUST contain two or more path components. <servername> is referred to as the "first pathname component", <share> as the "second pathname component", and so on. The last component of the path is also referred to as the "leaf component".

The size and valid characters for a path component are defined by the protocol used to access the resource and the type of resource being accessed. The only limitation placed on path components by DFS is that path components MUST be at least one character in length and MUST NOT contain a backslash (\) or a null.