Naming Restrictions for Dimensions, Members, and Aliases

A list of the most common restricted characters is provided in this section. However, Oracle strongly suggests that you review the conventions described in Naming Conventions for Essbase in addition to the information in this section.

When naming dimensions, members, and aliases, follow these rules:

• Use no more than 80 characters for dimension, member, or alias names. The 80-character limit applies to all application types.

• Names are not case-sensitive for dimensions, non-shared members, and aliases. Do not use matching names with only case differences; for example, do not name two members "zzz" and "ZZZ," or a base member "zzz" and a shared member "ZZZ."

  In other words, shared member names must use the same name and case of the base member. When you rename a base member (even if all you do is change the case), the shared member names will be updated to match the base member names.

• Do not use dimension names that are the same name as a member property or a column header in the metadata load file; for example, Data Type.

• HTML tags cannot be used in member names, dimension names, aliases, and descriptions.

• The TAB key is restricted and cannot be used in dimension, member, and alias names.

• The following is a list of characters that are restricted and cannot be used in dimension, member, and alias names:

  Table 33-2 Restricted Characters in Dimension, Member, and Alias Names

  Character	Meaning
  "	quotation mark
  [ ]	bracket
  \	backslash
  /	slash

  Note:

  • Brackets [ ] are permitted but not recommended in block storage outlines. They cause errors when converting to aggregate storage outlines.

  • Do not use the ASCII substitute character (zero-width space character) 0x1A in member names and aliases.

• The following is a list of characters that cannot be used at the beginning of dimension, member, and alias names:

  Table 33-3 Restricted Characters at the Beginning of Dimension, Member, and Alias Names

  Character	Meaning
  @	at sign
  &	ampersand
  \	backslash
  [ ]	brackets
  ,	comma
  -	dash, hyphen, or minus sign
  =	equal sign
  <	less than sign
  ( )	parentheses
  .	period
  +	plus sign
  "	quotation mark
  /	slash
  _	underscore
  |	vertical bar

  Note:

  Member names with the preceding characters are not allowed in business process data export jobs.

• The following characters are not recommended for names or aliases, and cannot be at the beginning or end of a member or alias name. All are in Unicode format.

  • 0x0009 - Horizontal Tab (common tab)
  • 0x000A - Line Feed
  • 0x000B - Vertical Tab
  • 0x000C - Form Feed
  • 0x000D - Carriage Return
  • 0x0020 - Space
  • 0x0085 - Next line
  • 0x00A0 - Non-breaking Space
  • 0x1680 - Ogham Space
  • 0x180E - Mongolian Vowel Separator
  • 0x2000 - EN Quad
  • 0x2001 - EM Quad
  • 0x2002 - EN Space
  • 0x2003 - EM Space
  • 0x2004 - Three Per EM Space
  • 0x2005 - Four Per EM Space
  • 0x2006 - Six Per EM Space
  • 0x2007 - Figure Space
  • 0x2008 - Punctuation Space
  • 0x2009 - Thin Space
  • 0x200A - Hair Space
  • 0x200B - Zero Width Space
  • 0x2028 - Line Separator
  • 0x2029 - Paragraph Separator
  • 0x202F - Narrow Non-breaking Space
  • 0x205F - Medium math space
  • 0x3000 - Ideographic Space

• Spaces cannot be placed at the beginning or end of names.

• For time periods in custom calendars, don't use spaces in prefixes.

• The following cannot be used as dimension, member, or alias names:

  • Calculation script commands, operators, and keywords

  • Function names and function arguments

  • Names of other dimensions and members (unless the member is shared)

  • If Dynamic Time Series is enabled, don't use History, Year, Season, Period, Quarter, Month, Week, or Day.

  • In unique member outlines that contain an attribute dimension, you cannot use Sum, Count, Min, Max, and Avg as member or dimension names. Using these names causes duplicate name conflicts.

    Note:

    The members that are created in the attribute calculations dimension (Sum, Count, Min, Max, and Avg) are not considered reserved words because you can change these names in the attribute calculations dimension and then use the standard name in an attribute or standard dimension.

    If the outline is tagged as a duplicate member outline, and an attribute dimension (and, therefore, the attribute calculations dimension) exists before you use Sum, Count, Min, Max, and Avg as a base member, the duplicate name is allowed. However, if, you use Sum, Count, Min, Max, and Avg as a base member before creating an attribute dimension, the duplicate name isn't allowed.

• The following is a list of words that are restricted and cannot be used in dimension, member, and alias names:

  Table 33-4 Restricted Words in Dimension, Member, and Alias Names

  Restricted Word	Restricted Word	Restricted Word
  ALL	AND	ASSIGN
  AVERAGE	CALC	CALCMBR
  COPYFORWARD	COUNT	CROSSDIM
  CURMBRNAME	DIM	DIMNAME
  DIV	DYNAMIC	EMPTYPARM
  EQ	EQOP	EXCEPT
  EXP	EXPERROR	FLOAT
  FUNCTION	GE	GEN
  GENRANGE	GROUP	GT
  ID	IDERROR	INTEGER
  LE	LEVELRANGE	LOCAL
  LOOPBLOCK	LOOPPARMS	LT
  MBR	MBRNAME	MBRONLY
  MINUS	MISSING	MUL
  MULOP	NE	NON
  NONINPUT	NOT	OR
  PAREN	PARENPARM	PERCENT
  PLUS	RELOP	REQUEST
  SET	SKIPBOTH	SKIPMISSING
  SKIPNONE	SKIPZERO	STATUS
  SUM	TO	TOLOCALRATE
  TRAILMISSING	TRAILSUM	TYPE
  UMINUS	UPPER	VARORXMBR
  XMBRONLY	$$UNIVERSE$$	#MISSING
  #MI

• The following characters should generally be avoided:

  • , (comma)

  • : (colon)

  • [ ] (square brackets)

  • { } (curly braces)

  • / (forward slash)

  • ( ) (parentheses)

  • * (asterisk)

  • ! (exclamation point)

  • > (greater than sign)

  • ; (semicolon)

  • % (percent sign)

  • ~ *(tilde)