Special Resource Record Characters (System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP))

System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP)

Special Resource Record Characters

The following characters have special meanings:

Table 5–6 Special Resource Record Characters


Character	Definition
`.`	A free-standing dot in the name field refers to the current domain.
`@`	A free-standing `@` in the name field denotes the current origin.
`..`	Two free-standing dots represent the null domain name of the root when used in the name field.
`\X`	Where `X` is any character other than a digit (0-9), quotes that character so that its special meaning does not apply. For example, you can use `\.` to place a dot character in a label.
`\DDD`	Where each `D` is a digit, this is the octet corresponding to the decimal number described by `DDD`. The resulting octet is assumed to be text and is not checked for special meaning.
`()`	Use parentheses to group data that crosses a line. In effect, line terminations are not recognized within parentheses.
`;`	A semicolon starts a comment; the remainder of the line is ignored.
`*`	An asterisk signifies a wildcard.

Most resource records have the current origin appended to names if they are not terminated by a dot (.) This is useful for appending the current domain name to the data, such as machine names, but might cause problems when you do not want this to happen. You should use a fully qualified name ending in a period if the name is not in the domain for which you are creating the data file.