### Strings Representing a Distinguished Name

Strings are used to represent the DN of the object. They are of the form:

/attribute_type = naming_attribute_value ....

or

/attribute_value/attribute_value ....

The attribute types can either be specified as abbreviations or object identifier strings. An object identifier string is defined as a series of digits separated by dots. If attribute abbreviations are used, they are case insensitive. Multiple AVAs are represented by separating the naming attribute values with commas.

The first RDN can also be specified as the DCE global root string /..., which is a sequence of the slash followed by three dots. In this case, the /... string is simply ignored and the rest of the string is processed. Three examples follow:

/c=de/o=sni/ou=ap11, l=munich/85.4.3=schmid
/c=us/o=osf/ou=abc/subsytems/server/xyz
/.../c=us/o=osf/ou=abc/subsytems/server/xyz

The first nonspace character should always be the slash. All leading and trailing white space (surrounding the slash, the attribute type, the equal sign and the attribute value) is ignored.

The following are the reserved characters:

' Used to enclose the naming attribute values. If this character is used, all other reserved characters within the quoted string except the backslash are not interpreted. For example, cn='henry mueller'.

/ Used as a delimiter between RDNs.

, Specifies multiple AVAs. All leading and trailing white space surrounding the comma is ignored. An example follows:

/c=de/o=dbp/ou=dap11/cn=schmid, ou=ap11

= Associates the object with its naming attribute value.

\x nn Used to specify hexadecimal data. The two characters nn are read as the hexadecimal value.

\ Used to escape any of the other reserved characters.

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