Naming MVS files

The z/OS NFS server uses the comma (,) as a delimiter to a list of file attributes. Do not use a comma as a special character in file name. For example, you can enter this command:

$ vi "/u/smith/new,text"

This indicates to NFS that a file called new is being edited in the attribute text mode, not file new,text.

When naming z/OS conventional MVS files, you must follow the MVS file naming conventions, as described in z/OS DFSMS Using Data Sets.

For information about the z/OS UNIX System Services naming conventions, see Using z/OS UNIX System Services files.

An MVS file name (or data set name) can consist of one or several simple names joined so that each represents a level of qualification. For example, the MVS file name DEPT58.SMITH.DATA3 is composed of three qualifiers.

The following characteristics apply to the MVS file name.

Each qualifier consists of 1 to 8 alphanumeric characters, national characters (@, #, $), or a hyphen (-)
Each qualifier must start with an alphabetical or national character
The period (.) separates simple names from each other
Including all simple names and periods, the length of the MVS file name must not exceed 44 characters
PDS and PDSE member names can be up to 8 characters long

For information about the MVS file system, see Mapping between the workstation and MVS file systems.