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

Using the Asterisk

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

• The asterisk (*) cannot be used to mask the period delimiter in a qualified resource name in the $PREFIX value. Periods separating qualifiers must be specified; they designate the end of one qualifier and the start of another.

  $PREFIX value               Portion of Resource Name
  TEST.NAME***   matches      TEST.NAME
                              TEST.NAME123
                 but not      TEST.NAME.2     (extra qualifier)
  

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

  $PREFIX value            Portion of Resource Name
  TEST.***WORD   matches   TEST.THEWORD
                           TEST.HISWORD
                 but not   TEST.WORD     (missing characters)
                           TEST.AWORD    (missing characters)
                           TEST.NOTHING  (unmatched characters)
                           TEST.AB.WORD  (too many qualifiers)
  

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

  $PREFIX value            Portion of Resource Name
  TEST.NAME***   matches   TEST.NAME
                           TEST.NAME123
                 but not   TEST.NAM        (too short)
                           TEST.NAMX       (different character)
                           TEST.NAME1234   (too long)
                           TEST.NAME.2     (extra qualifier)
  

• When one or more asterisk (*) mask characters form a separate qualifier in the $PREFIX value, they match a qualifier with the same number of or fewer characters in the resource name.

  $PREFIX value           Portion of Resource Name
  TEST.***.LAST  matches  TEST.A.LAST
                          TEST.ABC.LAST
                 but not  TEST.A        	(missing last qualifier)
                          TEST.LAST   	(missing middle qualifier)
                          TEST.ABCD.LAST 	(qualifier too long)
                          TEST.A.B.LAST  	(too many qualifiers)