Symbolic operators

A variety of characters can be used as symbolic operators in CL commands.

The following characters are used as symbolic operators in CL commands.

Name	Symbol	Meanings
And	&	Symbolic logical operator for AND.
Asterisk	*	Multiplication operator. Indicates a generic name when it is the last character in the name. Indicates i5/OS™ reserved values (predefined parameter values and expression operators) when it is the first character in a string.
Concatenation	\|>, \|<, and \|\| ³	Character string operator (indicates both values are to be joined).
Equal	=	Symbolic equal relational operator.
Greater than	>	Symbolic greater than relational operator.
Less than	<	Symbolic less than relational operator.
Minus (hyphen)	-	Subtraction operator, command continuation operator, and negative signed value indicator. Separates parts of date values. ¹
Not	¬ ²	Symbolic NOT relational operator.
Or	\| ³	Symbolic logical operator for OR.
Plus	+	Addition operator, command continuation character, and positive signed value indicator.
Slash	/	Division operator. Separates parts of date values. ¹ Used as the separator between parts of a qualified name.
Note: Valid only when the job date separator value specifies the same character. In some character sets, including the multinational character set, the character ^ replaces the ¬ character. Either ^ or NOT can be used as the logical NOT operator in those character sets. In some character sets, including the multinational character set, the character ! replaces the \| character. Either ! or OR can be used as the logical OR operator, and either \|\| or *CAT can be used as the concatenation operator in those character sets.

Note: The symbolic operators can also be used in combinations.

Symbolic operators can also be used in the following ways:

Table 1. Symbolic operators: Other uses
Name	Symbol	Meanings
Ampersand	&	Identifies a CL variable name when it is the first character in the string.
Percent	%	Identifies a built-in system function when it is the first character in the string.
Question mark	?	Specifies a prompt request when it precedes a command name or keyword name.