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

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

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