Group naming conventions

The naming conventions for groups are relatively simple:

A group name must be 1 - 8 characters in length, chosen from the uppercase letters (A - Z), numbers (0 - 9), or # (X'7B'), $ (X'5B'), or @ (X'7C'). It must not start with a number.
Tip: The #, $, and @ characters might be displayed differently on terminals outside the United States. Therefore, use the characters with the hexadecimal equivalents shown above.
No two groups can have the same name. No group name can be the same as a user ID.

Because two or more users might want to use the same group name (for example, ADMIN), you should adopt naming standards locally to prevent conflicts. For example, consider assigning a unique 1- or 2-character group name prefix to each group administrator. Then each group defined by a group administrator would have a name that consists of the administrator's prefix followed by whatever characters the administrator chooses to use. This prefixing ensures that two group administrators cannot use the same group name.

For information about group naming conventions for z/OS UNIX group identifiers (GIDs), see Defining group identifiers (GIDs).