Path name rules for APIs

When using an integrated file system or ILE C/400^® API to operate on an object, you identify the object by supplying its directory path. Here is a summary of rules to keep in mind when specifying path names in the APIs.

The term object in these rules refers to any directory, file, link, or other object.

Path names are specified in hierarchical order beginning with the highest level of the directory hierarchy. The name of each component in the path is separated by a slash (/); for example:
```
     Dir1/Dir2/Dir3/UsrFile
```
The backslash (\) is not recognized as a separator. It is handled as just another character in a name.
Object names must be unique within a directory.
The maximum length of each component of the path name and the maximum length of the path name string can vary for each file system.
A / character at the beginning of a path name means that the path begins at the "root" (/) directory; for example:
```
     /Dir1/Dir2/Dir3/UsrFile
```
If the path name does not begin with a / character, the path is assumed to begin at the current directory; for example:
```
     MyDir/MyFile
```
where MyDir is a subdirectory of the current directory.
To avoid confusion with iSeries™ server special values, path names cannot start with a single asterisk (*) character. To specify a path name that begins with any number of characters, use two asterisks (*); for example:
```
     '**.file'            
```
Note that this only applies to relative path names where there are no other characters before the asterisk (*).
When operating on objects in the QSYS.LIB file system, the component names must be of the form name.object-type; for example:
```
     /QSYS.LIB/PAYROLL.LIB/PAY.FILE
```
When operating on objects in the independent ASP QSYS.LIB file system, the component names must be of the form name.object-type; for example:
```
          '/asp_name/QSYS.LIB/PAYDAVE.LIB/PAY.FILE
```
Do not use a colon (:) in path names. It has a special meaning within the server.
Unlike path names in integrated file system commands , an asterisk (*), a question mark (?), a single quotation mark ('), a quotation mark ("), and a tilde (~) have no special significance. They are handled as if they are just another character in a name. To avoid confusion with iSeries server special values, path names should not start with a single asterisk (*) character. The only APIs that are exceptions to this rule are QjoEndJournal and QjoStartJournal.
When using the Qlg (using NLS-enabled path names) API interfaces, a null character value is not allowed as one of the characters in the path name unless a null character is specified as a path name delimiter.