| ## Metacharacters Certain characters have special meaning to the directory service; these are known as metacharacters. The following table lists and explains the CDS, GDS, and DNS metacharacters. Metacharacters and Their Meaning
Directory Service | Character | Meaning
CDS | / \ | Separates elements of a name (simple names). Used where necessary in front of a \e (backslash) to escape the character; indicates that the following character is not a metacharacter.
GDS | / , = \ | Separates Relative Distinguished Names (RDNs). Separates multiple attribute type/value pairs (attribute value assertions) within an RDN. Separates an attribute type and value in an attribute value assertion. Used in front of a / (slash), a , (comma), or an = (equal sign) to escape the character; indicates that the following character is not a metacharacter.
DNS | . | Separates elements of a name.
Some metacharacters are not permitted as normal characters within a name. For example, a \ (backslash) cannot be used as anything but an escape character in GDS. You can use other metacharacters as normal characters in a name, provided that you escape them with the backslash metacharacter. ##