for my $testfn ( "a/b/c", 'a\b\c', 'a:b:c', "a[!{(\205)}!].ext", "a.ext", ){ printf "( %s )\n\t(%s)\n\n", $testfn , WashFilename( $testfn ); } sub WashFilename { use File::Basename; my $basename = basename( shift ); my $id = $$.'-'.time; my( $file, $ext ) = map { unpack 'h*',$_ } split /\./, $basename, 2 ; return join '.', grep defined, $file, $id, $ext; } __END__ ( a/b/c ) (36.3924-1316599650) ( a\b\c ) (36.3924-1316599650) ( a:b:c ) (36.3924-1316599650) ( a[!{(à)}!].ext ) (16b512b7825892d712d5.3924-1316599650.568747) ( a.ext ) (16.3924-1316599650.568747)