IBM i library naming rules

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You must adhere to certain restrictions when you name a library. This topic lists and describes these restrictions.

The naming rules for IBM® i libraries are as described in more detail in the IBM i product documentation:
  • A library name has a maximum length of 10 characters.
    Note: Composite library names, which are composed of a build definition resource prefix and a target library definition suffix, cannot exceed 10 characters total.
  • Unquoted library names:
    • The first character of an unquoted library name must begin with a character A-Z, @, #, or $.
    • The remaining characters of an unquoted library name can include these same characters plus 0-9, underscores (_), and periods (.).
    • Lowercase characters are converted to uppercase characters by the operating system.
  • Quoted library names:
    • All quoted library names must begin and end with a quotation mark ("). These quotes mean there are only eight characters that you can use for library names.
    • The middle characters of a quoted library name can contain any standard character (EBCDIC-37-encoded characters 0x40 - 0xFE), except blanks, *, ', ", /, and ? .
    Note: Quoted library names are not recommended for target library definitions, since these are partial library names.