The first / indicates root File has to be sitting in IFS
Note:
For AS/400, all the input and output files should be in the IFS. Don't support the text file from tradition file system anymore.
TCE000210 - Cannot output to file in Traditional file system (QSYS.LIB).
What is a path?
A path is the general form of a file or directory name, giving a file's name and its unique location in a file system. Paths point to their location using a string of characters signifying directories, separated by a delimiting character, most commonly the slash "/" or backslash character "\", though some operating systems may use a different delimiter. Paths are used extensively in computer science to represent the directory/file relationships common in modern operating systems, and are essential in the construction of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
A path can be either absolute or relative.
A full path or absolute path is a path that points to the same location on one file system regardless of the working directory or combined paths. It is usually written in reference to a root directory.
A relative path is a path relative to the current working directory, so the full absolute path may not need to be given.
What is UNC in Windows operating system?
UNC stands for Universal Naming Convention or Uniform Naming Convention generally used in Windows operating system(namely, IBM PC networking). In industry, representations of paths by operating system is, \\ServerComputerName\ShareName
"servername" is the hostname of a network file server
"sharename" is the name of a networked or shared directory.
Note:
This is not the same as the conventional M S-D O S "C:\windows" directory name. So in running a certain conversion application the file path has to be M S-D O S naming convention.
Or this rule can be used in running conversion application in local Windows client (LFS - local file system).
Japanese and Korean versions of Windows may often display a different character instead of the directory separator '\'.
Case insensitive and folder name can contain a space but we do not recommend to use a space for folder or directory name as it may cause problem in network
Path Name and File Name rules in Unix
Refer to the user manual for your vendor for your Unix and Linux operating system (source: Unix for Dummies by John R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young)
UNIX is not alone in being overparticular about creating and finding filenames and pathnames. Keep the following tips in mind as you create and search through UNIX files:
Capital and small letters are different in filenames.
Filenames can contain letters, numbers, periods, and underscores (_). Stay away from other punctuation. Slashes are special (see below).
Filenames should not contain spaces.
The ? (question mark) stands for a single character in a filename. The * wildcard stands for a bunch of characters in a filename. An * by itself stands for all files in the working directory.
A pathname is the path in which you (or UNIX) can find a file or directory. The root (main) directory of the disk is called /.
A pathname consists of directory names separated by slashes (/). If a pathname starts with a slash (/), it begins at the root directory. If a pathname does not start with a slash, it begins at the working directory.
When using an integrated file system to operate on an object, you identify the object by supplying its directory path. Following is a summary of rules to keep in mind when specifying path names in the APIs. The term object in these rules refers to any directory, file, link, or other object.
Path names are specified in hierarchical order beginning with the highest level of the directory hierarchy. The name of each component in the path is separated by a slash (/); for example: Dir1/Dir2/Dir3/UsrFile
The back slash (\) is not recognized as a separator. It is handled as just another character in a name.
Object names must be unique within a directory.
The maximum length of each component of the path name and the maximum length of the path name string can vary for each file system. See File system comparison for the limits in each file system.
A / character at the beginning of a path name means that the path begins at the "root" (/) directory; for example: /Dir1/Dir2/Dir3/UsrFile
If the path name does not begin with a / character, the path is assumed to begin at the current directory; for example: MyDir/MyFilewhere MyDir is a subdirectory of the current directory.
To avoid confusion with iSeries server special values, path names cannot start with a single (*) character. To specify a path name that begins with any number of characters, use two (*); for example: '**.file'
Note:
Currently file must be in IFS (Integrated File System)
The path name that is passed to an integrated file system CL command must be represented in the CCSID currently in effect for the job. If the CCSID of the job is 65535, the path name must be represented in the default CCSID of the job. Because text strings are normally encoded in CCSID 37, it is necessary to convert hard-coded path names to the job CCSID before passing the path to the command (refer to this)
Encoding for path?
Currently API jdeFopen() can be used across system in dealing with flat file from multiple locations. If the tools release you are on is lower than 8.98.3.4 double byte folder name or file name may not be recognized.
For detail refer to <Bug 11048789> : FILE NAMES WITH CHINESE CHARAC - SAR: 8968744 Modified jdeFopen so that it will support file names that include any UTF-16 (JCHAR *) characters. The actual file names must be supported by the underlying operating systems and file systems.
On Windows and System-i platforms, the file names will be in UTF-16.
On UNIX and Linux platforms, the file names will be in UTF-8.
Summary:
When a certain file is in shared area in your network files can be accessed/manipulated through jdeFopen(), jdeFclose() and conversion purpose. So it is important to check based on the operating system which govern those files,