Characters
are stored in a computer using a "character encoding scheme" that
maps the individual characters to binary integers. The two most commonly
used single-byte character encoding schemes are ASCII and EBCDIC. IBM mainframe
computers use the EBCDIC encoding, which contains representations for 256
characters. Each character has a unique representation, a binary integer
from 0 to 256 (x'FF').
The previous paragraph contains a simplified overview of character encoding,
ASCII, and EBCDIC. There are multiple forms of ASCII and multiple forms of
EBCDIC. Often, these encodings are referred to as "code pages."
The different EBCDIC code pages generally represent common characters, like
letters and numbers, with the same code. However, the code pages use different
codes for less common characters.
The following table shows the EBCDIC code for commonly
used characters. These representations are correct for all EBCDIC code pages.
EBCDIC Code: Commonly Used Characters
Hexadecimal |
Character |
Hexadecimal |
Character |
Hexadecimal |
Character |
Hexadecimal |
Character |
'40'x |
space |
'93' |
l |
'C4' |
D |
'E5' |
V |
'4B' |
. |
'94' |
m |
'C5' |
E |
'E6' |
W |
'4E' |
+ |
'95' |
n |
'C6' |
F |
'E7' |
X |
'5C' |
* |
'96' |
o |
'C7' |
G |
'E8' |
Y |
'60' |
- |
'97' |
p |
'C8' |
H |
'E9' |
Z |
'61' |
/ |
'98' |
q |
'C9' |
I |
'F0' |
0 |
'6D' |
_ |
'99' |
r |
'D1' |
J |
'F1' |
1 |
'81' |
a |
'A2' |
s |
'D2' |
K |
'F2' |
2 |
'82' |
b |
'A3' |
t |
'D3' |
L |
'F3' |
3 |
'83' |
c |
'A4' |
u |
'D4' |
M |
'F4' |
4 |
'84' |
d |
'A5' |
v |
'D5' |
N |
'F5' |
5 |
'85' |
e |
'A6' |
w |
'D6' |
O |
'F6' |
6 |
'86' |
f |
'A7' |
x |
'D7' |
P |
'F7' |
7 |
'87' |
g |
'A8' |
y |
'D8' |
Q |
'F8' |
8 |
'88' |
h |
'A9' |
z |
'D9' |
R |
'F9' |
9 |
'89' |
i |
'C1' |
A |
'E2' |
S |
|
|
'91' |
j |
'C2' |
B |
'E3' |
T |
|
|
'92' |
k |
'C3' |
C |
'E4' |
U |
|
|
Copyright © 2009 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.