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EBCDIC

Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

Enhanced Definition

The character encoding scheme used by IBM mainframes to represent text characters, different from ASCII used in most other computing systems. EBCDIC uses 8 bits to represent 256 possible characters.

Key Characteristics

- 8-bit character encoding (256 characters)
- Multiple code pages for different languages
- Different collating sequence than ASCII
- Non-contiguous alphabet arrangement
- Optimized for punched card heritage
Character Ranges:
- Control characters (0x00-0x3F)
- Special characters and symbols (various ranges)
- Lowercase letters (0x81-0x89, 0x91-0x99, 0xA2-0xA9)
- Uppercase letters (0xC1-0xC9, 0xD1-0xD9, 0xE2-0xE9)
- Digits (0xF0-0xF9)
EBCDIC vs ASCII Differences:
- Different numeric codes for same characters
- Non-contiguous alphabets in EBCDIC
- Different sort orders (collating sequences)
- Translation required for data exchange
- Impact on character comparisons
- 037: USA, Canada, Netherlands, Portugal
- 273: Austria, Germany
- 277: Denmark, Norway
- 278: Finland, Sweden
- 285: United Kingdom
- 500: International
Translation Considerations:
- Character-by-character translation tables
- Unicode as intermediate format
- Code page compatibility issues
- Impact on binary data
- National character differences

Use Cases

- Native mainframe text processing
- File transfers requiring translation
- Integration with ASCII-based systems
- Character set conversions
- International text handling

Related Concepts

Related to: ASCII, Character Encoding, Data Conversion

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