1. export JIL_ACCEPT_COLON=1 in your Autosys environment. 2. create the job definition encompass the job that has the colon in double qoutes. Example: ]$ jil jil>>1> insert_job: "my:job" jil>>2> job_type: CMD il>>3> command: ls jil>>4> owner: autosys@machine1 jil>>5> machine: machine1 jil>>6> exit