APPENDIX1.5 Appendix E. ASCII Considerations for OS/390 and VM

The compiler supports the American National Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). Thus, the programmer can create and process tape files recorded in accordance with the following standards:

American National Standard Code for Information Interchange, X3.4-1977
American National Standard Magnetic Tape Labels for Information Interchange, X3.27-1978
American National Standard Recorded Magnetic Tape for Information Interchange (800 CPI, NRZI), X3.22-1967

ASCII-encoded tape files, when read into the system, are automatically translated in the buffers into EBCDIC. Internal manipulation of data is performed exactly as if the ASCII files were EBCDIC-encoded files. For an output file, the system translates the EBCDIC characters into ASCII in the buffers before writing the file on tape. Therefore, there are special considerations concerning ASCII-encoded files when they are processed in COBOL.

This appendix also applies (with appropriate modifications) to the International Reference Version of the ISO 7-bit code (ISCII) defined in International Standard 646, 7-Bit Coded Character Set for Information Processing Interchange. The ISCII code set differs from ASCII only in the graphic representation of two code points:

Ordinal number 37, which is a dollar sign in ASCII, but a lozenge in ISCII
Ordinal number 127, which is a tilde (~) in ASCII, but an overline (or optionally a tilde) in ISCII.

Note: In the following discussion, the information given for STANDARD-1 also applies to STANDARD-2 except where otherwise specified.

The following paragraphs discuss the special considerations concerning ASCII- (or ISCII-) encoded files.

Subtopics:

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APPENDIX1.5 Appendix E. ASCII Considerations for OS/390 and VM

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