MPE/iX Shell and Utilities Reference Manual, Vol 2

Path Name Syntax Rules
When you specify a path name to an actual system object, the operating system resolves it using either
the hierarchical (HFS) name syntax or the
MPE name syntax. The syntax used depends upon the upon
the interface you are using or name the object. A name syntax is a set of rules that define the structure
of valid names for that syntax.
The hierarchical (HFS) name syntax used by MPE/iX Shell and Utilities conforms to object name syntax
rules defined by the
POSIX.1 standard.
The following rules apply when naming files and directories using MPE/iX HFS
name syntax:
• File and directory names can contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) as well as the dot
(.), underscore (_), and dash (-) characters.
• File and directory names can be up to 255 characters in length; however, certain restrictions apply
to file and directory names which reside directly beneath account directories or group directories.
For more information about name restrictions, refer to the sections entitled Files and Directories in
this Appendix.
MPE/iX Shell and Utilities uses the
MPE/iX HFS syntax exclusively, when resolving a path name to a sys-
tem object. You can successfully name any file or directory on the system using
HFS syntax.
Note: By default, MPE/iX CI commands adhere to the MPE
name syntax; however, MPE/iX CI commands
can use HFS syntax if you begin a path name specification with either a dot (.) or a slash (/). This is
important to remember when you use the shell commands callci, tobyte, and frombyte. For
more information about
MPE
syntax and HFS syntax, refer to New Features of MPE/iX: Using the Hier-
archical File System (32650-90351).
MPE/iX Implementation Considerations A-3