[R] maptools, filename writing shapefiles

[Patrick Giraudoux H]

Hi,

I meet a strange trouble writing shapefiles with write.pointShape() from 
maptools.

 > write.pointShape(mylines[,5:9], file="Sxtplinshp", mycoordspt)
Error in write.pointShape(mylines[, 5:9], file = "Sxtplinshp", mycoordspt) :
         shapefile names must conform to the 8.3 format

It seems that the function request a special shapefile name spelling 
(conformed to 8.3 ESRI format?).

 > write.pointShape(mylines[,5:9], file="Sxtplin", mycoordspt)

When just shortened, everything goes smoothly with the file correctly written.

I am not sure about ESRI standard requesting short names (modifying the 
filename by hand keep it readable by any GIS).

Can anybody (especially Roger...) tell us where comes the trouble from?

Patrick Giraudoux