Key-label content

Use a key label to identify a record in key storage managed by a CCA implementation.

The key label must be left-aligned in the 64-byte string variable used as input to the verb. Some verbs use a key label while others use a key identifier. Calls that use a key identifier accept either a key token or a key label.

A key-label character string has the following properties:

It contains 64 bytes of data.
The first character is within the range X'20' - X'FE'. If the first character is within this range, the input is treated as a key label, even if it is otherwise not valid. Inputs beginning with a byte valued in the range X'00' - X'1F' are considered to be some form of key token. A first byte valued to X'FF' is not valid.
All TR-31 key labels must begin with a ”1” (X’31’) character. That is, the first name token in a TR-31 key label must start with X’31’.
The first character of a non - TR-31 key label cannot be numeric (0 - 9).
The label is ended by a space character on the right (in ASCII it is X'20', and in EBCDIC it is X'40'). The remainder of the 64-byte field is padded with space characters.
Construct a label with 1 - 7 name tokens, each separated by a period (.). The key label must not end with a period.
A name token consists of 1 - 8 characters in the character set A - Z, 0 - 9, and three additional characters relating to different character symbols in the various national language character sets as listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Valid symbols for the name token

ASCII systems EBCDIC systems USA graphic (for reference)

X'23' X'7B' #

X'24' X'5B' $

X'40' X'7C' @

The alphabetic and numeric characters and the period should be encoded in the normal character set for the computing platform that is in use, either ASCII or EBCDIC.
Note:
1. Some CCA implementations accept the characters a - z and fold these to their uppercase equivalents, A - Z. For compatibility reasons, only use the uppercase alphabetic characters.
2. Some implementations internally transform the EBCDIC encoding of a key label to an ASCII string. Also, the label might be put in tokenized form by dropping the periods and formatting each name token into 8-byte groups, padded on the right with space characters.

Table 1. Valid symbols for the name token
ASCII systems	EBCDIC systems	USA graphic (for reference)
X'23'	X'7B'	#
X'24'	X'5B'	$
X'40'	X'7C'	@

Some verbs accept a key label containing a wild card represented by an asterisk (*). (X'2A' in ASCII; X'5C' in EBCDIC). When a verb permits the use of a wild card, the wild card can appear as the first character, as the last character, or as the only character in a name token. Any of the name tokens can contain a wild card.

Examples of valid key labels include the following:

    A
    ABCD.2.3.4.5555
    ABCDEFGH
    BANKSYS.XXXXX.43*.PDQ

Examples of key labels that are not valid are listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Key labels that are not valid
Key label not valid	Problem with key label
`A/.B`	A slash is an unacceptable character
`ABCDEFGH9`	Name token is greater than 8 characters
`1111111.2.3.4.55555`	First character cannot be numeric
`A1111111.2.3.4.55555.6.7.8`	Number of name tokens exceeds 7
`BANKSYS.XXXXX.43.D`	Number of wild cards exceeds 1
`A.B.`	Last character cannot be a period