Is this valid?

[aha7]

Hello,

Can I use the following to define googlebot?

User-agent: google

Will Googlebot (and other user agents that start with the string "google") follow the instructions following that line? Is it case sensetive or not?

[daveozzz]

This doesn't answer your question entirely but to be safe perhaps follow the instructions on Google Blog [google.com]

[goodroi]

It is not valid. It might work, it might not but it is not valid. If you want to be sure Google will do what you want you need to follow Google's instructions.