ID Options › Identifiers › Generic Characters in Identifiers

Generic Characters in Identifiers

Identifiers can contain the following generic characters to report on groups of resources:

• A plus sign (+) tells the Report Writer not to compare that position in the identifier. A place in an identifier filled in with the plus sign (+) is always a match.
• An asterisk (*) tells the Report Writer that all places after and including the asterisk are matches.
• A not sign (¬) tells the Report Writer to exclude the identifier that follows it. You can use the generic characters * and + when specifying the identifier to exclude.

Example: Generic Characters Used in Identifiers

The following GRAF command produces a report on terminal use for only certain transactions:

GRAF TRANID(C*,¬C100, S104) TERMINAL USE

In this example, the ID option TRANID is specified with three identifiers, C*, ¬C100, and S104. The identifier C* includes all transactions starting with C. The identifier ¬C100 excludes the transaction C100. The identifier S104 includes the transaction S104. Therefore, this GRAF command generates a report showing terminal use for transactions starting with C except transaction C100, and for the transaction S104.