Writing Rules › Can You Mask CA ACF2 Option for DB2 Rule Sets? › Masking the $KEY › Using the Asterisk

Using the Asterisk

You can use the asterisk (*) to mask the $KEY control statement as follows:

• If one or more asterisk (*) mask characters occur at the beginning of or between the characters of the $KEY value, each asterisk matches exactly one character in the resource name or qualifier.

  TEST***WORD    will match   TESTTHEWORD
                              TEST   WORD
                              TEST.A.WORD
                 but not      TESTWORD       (missing characters)
                              TEST WORD      (missing characters)
                              TEST.WORD      (missing characters)
                              TEST.NOTHING   (unmatched characters)
   *****WORD     will match   TEST WORD
                              TEST.WORD
                 but not      TESTWORD       (missing characters)
                              WORD           (missing characters)
                              TEST           (unmatched characters)
  

• If one or more asterisk (*) mask characters occur at the end of the $KEY value, they match the same number of or fewer characters in the resource name or qualifier.

  TEST.NAME***	will match	TEST.NAME
  					TEST.NAME123
  					TEST.NAME.2
  			but not		TEST.NAM       (too short)
  					TEST.NAMX      (different character)
  					TEST.NAME1234  (too long)
  TEST***		will match	TEST
  					TEST123
  					TEST 12
  			but not		TEST1234       (too long)
  

• The asterisk (*) character can mask the period delimiter in a qualified resource name when the total length of the resource name is 252 characters or less and the $KEY value matches the entire resource name.

  TEST***WORD		will match	TEST.A.WORD
  			but not		TEST.ABC.WORD (unmatched characters)
  *****WORD		will match	TEST.WORD
  			but not		ABC.WORD      (unmatched characters)
  ***********		will match	TEST.WORD