As a rule, the number of tokens in the original mask and final mask must be the same. If the format is not correct, that line will be ignored and the subsequent lines will not be recognized. Other rules include the following:
Wildcard
- You cannot use wildcards (*/?) or the ‘U’ token in the final mask.
- ‘*’ and ‘?’ cannot be used together in the same pattern.
- ‘*’ can be used no more than twice in one pattern.
- ‘*’ is used only for five patterns as described below:
- *SF (one ‘*’ is used at the beginning)
- LS* (one ‘*’ is used at the end)
- L*F (one ‘*’ is used in the middle)
- *S* (start with ‘*’ and end with ‘*’ )
Priority
- Priority of masks is the order of entries in the mask tables.
- ‘?’ takes priority over ‘*’ regardless of the order of entries. For example, ‘T?C’ takes priority over ‘T*C’ .
Space (S token)
- The position of the S token in the original mask and final mask must be the same.
- You cannot replace the S token with another token.