For an application to work with a IBM MQ object (for example: a queue, a name list, a queue manager, or a process definition), both the application and the queue manager must have a unique identifier by which it knows that object. This identifier is called an object handle. The handle is returned by the IMFEXEC MQI OPEN statement when an application opens the object to work with it. Applications pass the object handle as input, explicitly or implicitly, when they use subsequent IMFEXEC MQI PUT, GET, or CLOSE statements.