EDI Delimiters
If you are using an EDI standard that contains composite elements or subelements, you must verify that Sterling Gentran:Server® is specifying the correct delimiters. Delimiters are flags that you define to the system as separating specific EDI components. Delimiters are necessary for all variable field-length standards, because the data is compressed (and the leading zeroes and trailing blanks are removed). The fields vary in length, so the system needs a flag to determine where one element ends and another begins. For example, an element delimiter marks the beginning of a new element.
Note: Although setting EDI delimiters in Sterling Gentran:Server is
mandatory only if you are using a standard with composite elements
or subelements, we recommend that you perform this task regardless
of which standard you use.
This table lists the default EDI delimiters.
| Field | ANSI X12 | EDIFACT | TRADACOMS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default Char | Default Hex | Default Char | Default Hex | Default Char | Default Hex | |
| Tag Delimiter | + (plus sign) | = (equal sign) | Ox3D | |||
| Segment Delimiter | ~ (tilde) | 0x7E | ‘ (apostrophe) | 0x27 | ’ (apostrophe) | Ox27 |
| Element Delimiter | * (asterisk) | 0x2A | + (plus sign) | 0x2B | + (plus sign) | Ox2B |
| Sub Element Delimiter | : (colon) | 0x3A | : (colon) | 0x3A | : (colon) | Ox3A |
| Decimal Separator | . (period) | 0x2E | . (full stop) | Ox2E | ||
| Release Character | ? (question mark) | 0x3F | ? (question mark) | Ox3F | ||