The Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC), pronounced eb-se-dik, is an 8-bit character encoding scheme used for representing English characters as numbers. Each EBCDIC character is assigned a unique value from 0 to 255. The EBCDIC encoding scheme was devised as an efficient of encoding the binary-coded decimal code on punched cards into 6-bits. Today, EBCDIC is still used in IBM mainframe operating systems such as the z/OS and the OS/390, in the Unisys MCP, Fujitsu BS2000/OSD, and the HP MPE/iX.
Non-printable characters[edit]
The purpose of the non-printable characters was to control devices such as consoles and printers with meta-information about the stream. Over the year multiple EBCDIC character sets were created, each one slightly different to other.
Below is a list of all EBCDIC control characters as used on the latest IBM Mainframes and Unisys Clearpath/MCP systems:
Non-Printable EBCDIC Characters | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Binary | Octal | Decimal | Hexadecimal | Mnemonic | Name |
0000 0000 | 000 | 0 | 00 | NUL | Null character |
0000 0001 | 001 | 1 | 01 | SOH | Start of Heading |
0000 0010 | 002 | 2 | 02 | STX | Start of Text |
0000 0011 | 003 | 3 | 03 | ETX | End of Text |
0000 0101 | 005 | 5 | 05 | HT | Horizontal Tab |
0000 0111 | 007 | 7 | 07 | DEL | Delete |
0000 1011 | 013 | 11 | 0B | VT | Vertical Tab |
0000 1100 | 014 | 12 | 0C | FF | Form feed |
0000 1101 | 015 | 13 | 0D | CR | Carriage return |
0000 1110 | 016 | 14 | 0E | SO | Shift Out |
0000 1111 | 017 | 15 | 0F | SI | Shift In |
0001 0000 | 020 | 16 | 10 | DLE | Data Link Escape |
0001 0001 | 021 | 17 | 11 | DC1 | Device Control 1 |
0001 0010 | 022 | 18 | 12 | DC2 | Device Control 2 |
0001 0011 | 023 | 19 | 13 | DC3 | Device Control 3 |
0001 0110 | 026 | 22 | 16 | BS | Backspace |
0001 1000 | 030 | 24 | 18 | CAN | Cancel |
0001 1001 | 031 | 25 | 19 | EM | End of Medium |
0001 1100 | 034 | 28 | 1C | FS | File Separator |
0001 1101 | 035 | 29 | 1D | GS | Group Separator |
0001 1110 | 036 | 30 | 1E | RS | Record Separator |
0001 1111 | 037 | 31 | 1F | US | Unit Separator |
0010 0101 | 045 | 37 | 25 | LF | Line Feed |
0010 0110 | 046 | 38 | 26 | ETB | End of Transmission Block |
0010 0111 | 047 | 39 | 27 | ESC | Escape |
0010 1101 | 055 | 45 | 2D | ENQ | Enquiry |
0010 1110 | 056 | 46 | 2E | ACK | Acknowledge |
0010 1111 | 057 | 47 | 2F | BEL | Bell |
0011 0010 | 062 | 50 | 32 | SYN | Synchronous Idle |
0011 0111 | 067 | 55 | 37 | EOT | End of Transmission |
0011 1100 | 074 | 60 | 3C | DC4 | Device Control 4 |
0011 1101 | 075 | 61 | 3D | NAK | Negative Acknowledge |
0011 1111 | 077 | 63 | 3F | SUB | Substitute |
Printable characters[edit]
Printable EBCDIC characters include letters, numbers, and symbols.
Printable EBCDIC Characters | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Binary | Octal | Decimal | Hexadecimal | Glyph | Name |
0100 0000 | 100 | 64 | 40 | Space | |
0100 1010 | 112 | 74 | 4A | [ | Left Square Bracket |
0100 1011 | 113 | 75 | 4B | . | Full stop |
0100 1100 | 114 | 76 | 4C | < | Less-than sign |
0100 1101 | 115 | 77 | 4D | ( | Left Parenthesis |
0100 1110 | 116 | 78 | 4E | + | Plus sign |
0100 1111 | 117 | 79 | 4F | ! | Exclamation Mark |
0101 0000 | 120 | 80 | 50 | & | Ampersand |
0101 1010 | 132 | 90 | 5A | ] | Right Square Bracket |
0101 1011 | 133 | 91 | 5B | $ | Dollar Sign |
0101 1100 | 134 | 92 | 5C | * | Asterisk |
0101 1101 | 135 | 93 | 5D | ) | Right Parenthesis |
0101 1110 | 136 | 94 | 5E | ; | Semicolon |
0101 1111 | 137 | 95 | 5F | ^ | Circumflex accent |
0110 0000 | 140 | 96 | 60 | - | Hyphen-minus |
0110 0001 | 141 | 97 | 61 | / | Slash |
0110 1010 | 152 | 106 | 6A | Vertical bar | |
0110 1011 | 153 | 107 | 6B | , | Comma |
0110 1100 | 154 | 108 | 6C | % | Percent Sign |
0110 1101 | 155 | 109 | 6D | _ | Low line |
0110 1110 | 156 | 110 | 6E | > | Greater-than sign |
0110 1111 | 157 | 111 | 6F | ? | Question mark |
0111 1001 | 171 | 121 | 79 | ` | Grave accent |
0111 1010 | 172 | 122 | 7A | : | Colon |
0111 1011 | 173 | 123 | 7B | # | Pound Sign |
0111 1100 | 174 | 124 | 7C | @ | At sign |
0111 1101 | 175 | 125 | 7D | ' | Apostrophe |
0111 1110 | 176 | 126 | 7E | = | Equal sign |
0111 1111 | 177 | 127 | 7F | " | Quotation Mark |
1000 0001 | 201 | 129 | 81 | a | Latin Small Letter a |
1000 0010 | 202 | 130 | 82 | b | Latin Small Letter b |
1000 0011 | 203 | 131 | 83 | c | Latin Small Letter c |
1000 0100 | 204 | 132 | 84 | d | Latin Small Letter d |
1000 0101 | 205 | 133 | 85 | e | Latin Small Letter e |
1000 0110 | 206 | 134 | 86 | f | Latin Small Letter f |
1000 0111 | 207 | 135 | 87 | g | Latin Small Letter g |
1000 1000 | 210 | 136 | 88 | h | Latin Small Letter h |
1000 1001 | 211 | 137 | 89 | i | Latin Small Letter i |
1001 0001 | 221 | 145 | 91 | j | Latin Small Letter j |
1001 0010 | 222 | 146 | 92 | k | Latin Small Letter k |
1001 0011 | 223 | 147 | 93 | l | Latin Small Letter l |
1001 0100 | 224 | 148 | 94 | m | Latin Small Letter m |
1001 0101 | 225 | 149 | 95 | n | Latin Small Letter n |
1001 0110 | 226 | 150 | 96 | o | Latin Small Letter o |
1001 0111 | 227 | 151 | 97 | p | Latin Small Letter p |
1001 1000 | 230 | 152 | 98 | q | Latin Small Letter q |
1001 1001 | 231 | 153 | 99 | r | Latin Small Letter r |
1010 0001 | 241 | 161 | A1 | ~ | Tilde |
1010 0010 | 242 | 162 | A2 | s | Latin Small Letter s |
1010 0011 | 243 | 163 | A3 | t | Latin Small Letter t |
1010 0100 | 244 | 164 | A4 | u | Latin Small Letter u |
1010 0101 | 245 | 165 | A5 | v | Latin Small Letter v |
1010 0110 | 246 | 166 | A6 | w | Latin Small Letter w |
1010 0111 | 247 | 167 | A7 | x | Latin Small Letter x |
1010 1000 | 250 | 168 | A8 | y | Latin Small Letter y |
1010 1001 | 251 | 169 | A9 | z | Latin Small Letter z |
1100 0000 | 300 | 192 | C0 | { | Left Curly Bracket |
1100 0001 | 301 | 193 | C1 | A | Latin Capital letter A |
1100 0010 | 302 | 194 | C2 | B | Latin Capital letter B |
1100 0011 | 303 | 195 | C3 | C | Latin Capital letter C |
1100 0100 | 304 | 196 | C4 | D | Latin Capital letter D |
1100 0101 | 305 | 197 | C5 | E | Latin Capital letter E |
1100 0110 | 306 | 198 | C6 | F | Latin Capital letter F |
1100 0111 | 307 | 199 | C7 | G | Latin Capital letter G |
1100 1000 | 310 | 200 | C8 | H | Latin Capital letter H |
1100 1001 | 311 | 201 | C9 | I | Latin Capital letter I |
1101 0000 | 320 | 208 | D0 | } | Right Curly Bracket |
1101 0001 | 321 | 209 | D1 | J | Latin Capital letter J |
1101 0010 | 322 | 210 | D2 | K | Latin Capital letter K |
1101 0011 | 323 | 211 | D3 | L | Latin Capital letter L |
1101 0100 | 324 | 212 | D4 | M | Latin Capital letter M |
1101 0101 | 325 | 213 | D5 | N | Latin Capital letter N |
1101 0110 | 326 | 214 | D6 | O | Latin Capital letter O |
1101 0111 | 327 | 215 | D7 | P | Latin Capital letter P |
1101 1000 | 330 | 216 | D8 | Q | Latin Capital letter Q |
1101 1001 | 331 | 217 | D9 | R | Latin Capital letter R |
1110 0000 | 340 | 224 | E0 | \ | Backslash |
1110 0010 | 342 | 226 | E2 | S | Latin Capital letter S |
1110 0011 | 343 | 227 | E3 | T | Latin Capital letter T |
1110 0100 | 344 | 228 | E4 | U | Latin Capital letter U |
1110 0101 | 345 | 229 | E5 | V | Latin Capital letter V |
1110 0110 | 346 | 230 | E6 | W | Latin Capital letter W |
1110 0111 | 347 | 231 | E7 | X | Latin Capital letter X |
1110 1000 | 350 | 232 | E8 | Y | Latin Capital letter Y |
1110 1001 | 351 | 233 | E9 | Z | Latin Capital letter Z |
1111 0000 | 360 | 240 | F0 | 0 | Digit Zero |
1111 0001 | 361 | 241 | F1 | 1 | Digit One |
1111 0010 | 362 | 242 | F2 | 2 | Digit Two |
1111 0011 | 363 | 243 | F3 | 3 | Digit Three |
1111 0100 | 364 | 244 | F4 | 4 | Digit Four |
1111 0101 | 365 | 245 | F5 | 5 | Digit Five |
1111 0110 | 366 | 246 | F6 | 6 | Digit Six |
1111 0111 | 367 | 247 | F7 | 7 | Digit Seven |
1111 1000 | 370 | 248 | F8 | 8 | Digit Eight |
1111 1001 | 371 | 249 | F9 | 9 | Digit Nine |