Why should characters such as / \ " ' * ; - ? [ ] ( ) ~ ! $ { } < > # @ & | space, tab, and newline be avoided in file names?

These characters can be treated as commands, separators, wildcards, or other special symbols by an operating system or software. For example, a slash may separate folders in a path, and a question mark can act as a wildcard in some contexts. So the best choice is that they may have special meaning to the operating system; file names are not universally limited to letters and numbers.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.