DBCS: general description

Characteristics that help to define the rules that DBCS uses to represent extended characters are listed.

  • Each DBCS character consists of 2 bytes.
  • There are no DBCS control characters.
  • The codes are in the ranges defined in the following table, which shows the valid DBCS code for the DBCS blank. You cannot have a DBCS blank in a simple symbol, in the stem of a compound variable, or in a label.
    Table 1. DBCS ranges
    Byte EBCDIC
    1st X'41' to X'FE'
    2nd X'41' to X'FE'
    DBCS blank X'4040'
  • DBCS alphanumeric and special symbols:

    A DBCS contains double-byte representation of alphanumeric and special symbols corresponding to those of the Single-Byte Character Set (SBCS). In EBCDIC, the first byte of a double-byte alphanumeric or special symbol is X'42' and the second is the same hex code as the corresponding EBCDIC code.

    Here are some examples:

    X'42C1' is an EBCDIC double-byte A
    X'4281' is an EBCDIC double-byte a
    X'427D' is an EBCDIC double-byte quote

  • No case translation:

    In general, there is no concept of lowercase and uppercase in DBCS.

  • The following notation conventions are used in this information:
    • DBCS character: .A .B .C .D
    • SBCS character: a b c d e
    • DBCS blank: '. '
    • EBCDIC shift-out (X'0E'): <
    • EBCDIC shift-in (X'0F'): >
Note: In EBCDIC, the shift-out (SO) and shift-in (SI) characters distinguish DBCS characters from SBCS characters.