Using wildcard characters to specify object names

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In some commands, such as the query commands, you can use wildcard characters to create a pattern-matching expression that specifies more than one object. Using wildcard characters makes it easier to tailor a command to your needs.

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The wildcard characters you use depend on the operating system from which you issue commands. For example, you can use wildcard characters such as an asterisk (*) to match any (0 or more) characters, or you can use a question mark (?) or a percent sign (%) to match exactly one character.

Table 1 provides references to wildcard characters for some operating systems. Use wildcard characters appropriate for your system.

Table 1. Wildcard characters by operating system
Operating system	Match any	Match exactly one
AIX®, Linux®, Windows	*	?
TSO	*	%

For example, if you want to query all the management classes whose names begin with DEV in all the policy sets in DOMAIN1, and your system uses an asterisk as the match-any character, you can enter:

query mgmtclass domain1 * dev*

If your system uses a question mark as the match-exactly-one character, and you want to query the management classes in POLICYSET1 in DOMAIN1, you can enter:

query mgmtclass domain1 policyset1 mc?

IBM Storage Protect displays information about management classes with names MC.

Table 2 shows additional examples of using wildcard characters to match any characters.

Table 2. Match-any character
Pattern	Matches	Does not match
ab*	ab, abb, abxxx	a, b, aa, bb
ab*rs	abrs, abtrs, abrsrs	ars, aabrs, abrss
abefrs	abefrs, abefghrs	abefr, abers

Table 3 shows additional examples of using wildcard characters to match exactly one character. The question mark (?) can be replaced by a percent sign (%) if your platform uses that character instead of (?).

Table 3. Match-exactly-one character
Pattern	Matches	Does not match
ab?	abc	ab, abab, abzzzz
ab?rs	abfrs	abrs, abllrs
ab?ef?rs	abdefjrs	abefrs, abdefrs, abefjrs
ab??rs	abcdrs, abzzrs	abrs, abjrs, abkkkrs