System identifiers
A system identifier is used to form the name of system objects in the IBM® i operating system. There are two types of system identifiers: ordinary identifiers and delimited identifiers.
- The rules for forming a system ordinary identifier are identical to the rules for forming an SQL ordinary identifier.
- The rules for forming a system delimited identifier are identical
to those for forming SQL delimited identifiers, except:
- The following special characters are not allowed in a delimited
system identifier:
- A blank (X'40')
- An asterisk (X'5C')
- An apostrophe (X'7D')
- A question mark (X'6F')
- A quotation mark (X'7F')
- The bytes required for the escape characters are included in the
length of the identifier unless the characters within the delimiters
would form an ordinary identifier.
For example, “PRIVILEGES” is in uppercase and the characters within the delimiters form an ordinary identifier; therefore, it has a length of 10 bytes and is a valid system name for a column. Alternatively, “privileges” is in lowercase, has a length of 12 bytes, and is not a valid system name for a column because the bytes required for the delimiters must be included in the length of the identifier.
- The following special characters are not allowed in a delimited
system identifier:
Examples
WKLYSAL WKLY_SAL "WKLY_SAL" "UNION" "wkly_sal"See Naming conventions for information on the maximum length of identifiers.