Invariant character set (and its exceptions)

An invariant character set is a character set, such as the syntactic character set, whose code point assignments do not change from code page to code page. The table illustrates the invariant character set (character set 00640) on the IBM® i operating system.

With only a few exceptions, each EBCDIC code page contains a common set of graphic characters. Within an encoding scheme, the common characters can be found at the same code points. The following EBCDIC code pages are exceptions:

  • EBCDIC code page 290 (for Japanese support) has Katakana characters at the code points where lowercase a through z are in the invariant character set
  • EBCDIC code pages 905, 1026, 1155 & 1175 (for Turkish support) where the quotation mark (") is not at the same code point as it is in the invariant character set
  • EBCDIC code page 420 does not contain the invariant character SM040000 (asterisk (*)). However, code page 420 has a similar character named SM040007 ( An illustration of the described invariant character) at the same code point where SM040000 normally exists.
  • EBCDIC code page 420 does not contain the invariant character SM020000 (percent sign ( %)). However, code page 420 has a similar character named SM020007 ( An illustration of the described invariant character ) at the same code point where SM020000 normally exists.

Invariant character set symbols

GCGID Description Graphic character
LA010000 Latin small letter a a
LA020000 Latin capital letter A A
LB010000 Latin small letter b b
LB020000 Latin capital letter B B
LC010000 Latin small letter c c
LC020000 Latin capital letter C C
LD010000 Latin small letter d d
LD020000 Latin capital letter D D
LE010000 Latin small letter e e
LE020000 Latin capital letter E E
LF010000 Latin small letter f f
LF020000 Latin capital letter F F
LG010000 Latin small letter g g
LG020000 Latin capital letter G G
LH010000 Latin small letter h h
LH020000 Latin capital letter H H
LI010000 Latin small letter i i
LI020000 Latin capital letter I I
LJ010000 Latin small letter j j
LJ020000 Latin capital letter J J
LK010000 Latin small letter k k
LK020000 Latin capital letter K K
LL010000 Latin small letter l l
LL020000 Latin capital letter L L
LM010000 Latin small letter m m
LM020000 Latin capital letter M M
LN010000 Latin small letter n n
LN020000 Latin capital letter N N
LO010000 Latin small letter o o
LO020000 Latin capital letter O O
LP010000 Latin small letter p p
LP020000 Latin capital letter P P
LQ010000 Latin small letter q q
LQ020000 Latin capital letter Q Q
LR010000 Latin small letter r r
LR020000 Latin capital letter R R
LS010000 Latin small letter s s
LS020000 Latin capital letter S S
LT010000 Latin small letter t t
LT020000 Latin capital letter T T
LU010000 Latin small letter u u
LU020000 Latin capital letter U U
LV010000 Latin small letter v v
LV020000 Latin capital letter V V
LW010000 Latin small letter w w
LW020000 Latin capital letter W W
LX010000 Latin small letter x x
LX020000 Latin capital letter X X
LY010000 Latin small letter y y
LY020000 Latin capital letter Y Y
LZ010000 Latin small letter z z
LZ020000 Latin capital letter Z Z
ND100000 Arabic number zero 0
ND010000 Arabic number one 1
ND020000 Arabic number two 2
ND030000 Arabic number three 3
ND040000 Arabic number four 4
ND050000 Arabic number five 5
ND060000 Arabic number six 6
ND070000 Arabic number seven 7
ND080000 Arabic number eight 8
ND090000 Arabic number nine 9
SA010000 Plus sign +
SA030000 Less than sign <
SA040000 Equal sign =
SA050000 Greater than sign >
SM020000 Percent sign %
SM030000 Ampersand &
SM040000 Asterisk *
SP040000 Straight quotation mark "
SP050000 Straight single quotation mark '
SP060000 Left parenthesis (
SP070000 Right parenthesis )
SP080000 Comma ,
SP090000 Underscore _
SP100000 Hyphen -
SP110000 Period .
SP120000 Slash right /
SP130000 Colon :
SP140000 Semicolon ;
SP150000 Question mark ?