American National Standard Code for Information Interchange

In addition to the EBCDIC mode, your z/VSE system accepts magnetic tape files that are written in ASCII, a 128-character 7-bit code.

The high-order bit in this 8-bit environment is zero. ASCII is based on the specifications of the American National Standards Institute, Inc.

z/VSE processes ASCII files in EBCDIC with the help of two translate tables, which reside in the SVA. Using these tables, logical IOCS translates from ASCII to EBCDIC all data as it is read into the I/O area. For ASCII output, logical IOCS translates data from EBCDIC to ASCII just before writing the record.

Table 1 shows the relative bit positions of the ASCII character set. An ASCII character is described by its column/row position in the table. The columns across the top of the figure list the three high-order bits. The rows along the left side of the figure are the four low-order bits.

For example, the letter P in ASCII is under column 5 and row 0 and is described in ASCII notation as 5/0. ASCII 5/0 and EBCDIC X'50' represent the same binary configuration (B'01010000'). However, P graphically represents this configuration in ASCII and & in EBCDIC. ASCII notation is always expressed in decimal. For example, the ASCII Z is expressed as 5/10 (not 5/A).

For those EBCDIC characters that have no direct equivalent in ASCII, the substitute character (SUB) is provided during translation. See Table 2 for ASCII to EBCDIC correspondence.
Note: If an EBCDIC file is translated into ASCII, and you translate back into EBCDIC, this substitute character might not receive the expected value.
Table 1. ASCII Character Set
b7  ───────────────>
      b6  ───────────────>
           b5  ───────────────>
0
  0
    0
0
  0
    1
0
  1
    0
0
  1
    1
1
  0
    0
1
  0
    1
1
  1
    0
1
  1
    1
B
  i
    t
      s3
b4
 

↓
b3
 

↓
b2
 

↓
b1
 

↓
Column
─────>
- - - - -
Row ↓
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
  0 0 0 0 0 NUL DLE SP 0 @ P ˋ p
  0 0 0 1 1 SOH DC1 !1 1 A Q a q
  0 0 1 0 2 STX DC2 " 2 B R b r
  0 0 1 1 3 ETX DC3 # 3 C S c s
  0 1 0 0 4 EOT DC4 $ 4 D T d t
  0 1 0 1 5 ENQ NAK % 5 E U e u
  0 1 1 0 6 ACK SYN & 6 F V f v
  0 1 1 1 7 BEL ETB ' 7 G W g w
  1 0 0 0 8 BS CAN ( 8 H X h x
  1 0 0 1 9 HT EM ) 9 I Y i y
  1 0 1 0 10 LF SUB * : J Z j z
  1 0 1 1 11 VT ESC + ; K [ k {
  1 1 0 0 12 FF FS , < L \ l ¦
  1 1 0 1 13 CR GS - = M ] m }
  1 1 1 0 14 SO RS . > N ‸2 n ~
  1 1 1 1 15 SI US ⁄ ? O _ o DEL
1 The graphic | (Logical OR) can also be used instead of ! (Exclamation Point).
2 The graphic ¬ (Logical NOT) can also be used instead of ‸ (Circumflex).
3 The 7 bit ASCII code expands to 8 bits when in storage by adding a high order 0 bit.
  EXAMPLE: The number sign (#) is represented internally as '00100011'
Control Character Representations Special Graphic Character
NUL Null DLE Data Link Escape (CC) SP Space < Less Than
SOH Start of Heading (CC) DC1 Device Control 1 ! Exclamation Point = Equals
STX Start of Text (CC) DC2 Device Control 2 | Logical OR > Greater Than
ETX End of Transmission (CC) DC3 Device Control 3 " Quotation Marks ? Question Mark
EOT End of Transmission (CC) DC4 Device Control 4 # Number Sign @ Commercial At
ENQ Enquiry (CC) NAK Negative Acknowledge (CC) $ Dollar Sign [ Opening Bracket
ACK Acknowledge (CC) SYN Synchronous Idle (CC) % Percent \ Reverse Slant
BEL Bell ETB End of Transmission Block (CC) & Ampersand ] Closing Bracket
BS Backspace (FE) CAN Cancel ' Apostrophe ‸ Circumflex
HT Horizontal Tabulation (FE) EM End of Medium ( Opening Parenthesis ¬ Logical NOT
LF Line Feed (FE) SUB Substitute ) Closing Parenthesis _ Underline
VT Vertical Tabulation (FE) ESC Escape * Asterisk ˋ Grave Accent
FF Form Feed (FE) FS File Separator (IS) + Plus { Opening Brace
CR Carriage Return (FE) GS Group Separator (IS) , Comma ¦ Vertical Line
SO Shift Out RS Record Separator (IS) - Hyphen (Minus)   (This graphic is
SI Shift In US Unit Separator (IS) . Period (Decimal Point)   stylized to
    DEL Delete ⁄ Slant   distinguish it
(CC) Communication Control     : Colon   from Logical OR)
(FE) Format Effector     ; Semicolon } Closing Brace
(IS) Information Separator         ~ Tilde
Table 2. ASCII to EBCDIC Correspondence
ASCII EBCDIC
Char Col Row Bit Pattern Col (Hex) Row (Hex) Bit Pattern
Comments
NUL 0 0 0000 0000 0 0 0000 0000  
SOH 0 1 0000 0001 0 1 0000 0001  
STX 0 2 0000 0010 0 2 0000 0010  
ETX 0 3 0000 0011 0 3 0000 0011  
EOT 0 4 0000 0100 3 7 0011 0111  
ENQ 0 5 0000 0101 2 D 0010 1101  
ACK 0 6 0000 0110 2 E 0010 1110  
BEL 0 7 0000 0111 2 F 0010 1111  
BS 0 8 0000 1000 1 6 0001 0110  
HT 0 9 0000 1001 0 5 0000 0101  
LF 0 10 0000 1010 2 5 0010 0101  
VT 0 11 0000 1011 0 B 0000 1011  
FF 0 12 0000 1100 0 C 0000 1100  
CR 0 13 0000 1101 0 D 0000 1101  
SO 0 14 0000 1110 0 E 0000 1110  
SI 0 15 0000 1111 0 F 0000 1111  
DLE 1 0 0001 0000 1 0 0001 0000  
DC1 1 1 0001 0001 1 1 0001 0001  
DC2 1 2 0001 0010 1 2 0001 0010  
DC3 1 3 0001 0011 1 3 0001 0011  
DC4 1 4 0001 0100 3 C 0011 1100  
NAK 1 5 0001 0101 3 D 0011 1101  
SYN 1 6 0001 0110 3 2 0011 0010  
ETB 1 7 0001 0111 2 6 0010 0110  
CAN 1 8 0001 1000 1 8 0001 1000  
EM 1 9 0001 1001 1 9 0001 1001  
SUB 1 10 0001 1010 3 F 0011 1111  
ESC 1 11 0001 1011 2 7 0010 0111  
FS 1 12 0001 1100 1 C 0001 1100  
GS 1 13 0001 1101 1 D 0001 1101  
RS 1 14 0001 1110 1 E 0001 1110  
US 1 15 0001 1111 1 F 0001 1111  
SP 2 0 0010 0000 4 0 0100 0000  
I1 2 1 0010 0001 4 F 0100 1111 Logical OR
" 2 2 0010 0010 7 F 0111 1111  
# 2 3 0010 0011 7 B 0111 1011  
$ 2 4 0010 0100 5 B 0101 1011  
% 2 5 0010 0101 6 C 0110 1100  
& 2 6 0010 0110 5 0 0101 0000  
' 2 7 0010 0111 7 D 0111 1101  
( 2 8 0010 1000 4 D 0100 1101  
) 2 9 0010 1001 5 D 0101 1101  
* 2 10 0010 1010 5 C 0101 1100  
+ 2 11 0010 1011 4 E 0100 1110  
, 2 12 0010 1100 6 B 0110 1011  
- 2 13 0010 1101 6 0 0110 0000 Hyphen, Minus
. 2 14 0010 1110 4 B 0100 1011  
/ 2 15 0010 1111 6 1 0110 1001  
0 3 0 0011 0000 F 0 1111 0000  
1 3 1 0011 0001 F 1 1111 0001  
2 3 2 0011 0010 F 2 1111 0010  
3 3 3 0011 0011 F 3 1111 0011  
4 3 4 0011 0100 F 4 1111 0100  
5 3 5 0011 0101 F 5 1111 0101  
6 3 6 0011 0110 F 6 1111 0110  
7 3 7 0011 0111 F 7 1111 0111  
8 3 8 0011 1000 F 8 1111 1000  
9 3 9 0011 1001 F 9 1111 1001  
: 3 10 0011 1010 7 A 0111 1010  
; 3 11 0011 1011 5 E 0101 1110  
< 3 12 0011 1100 4 C 0100 1100  
= 3 13 0011 1101 7 E 0111 1110  
> 3 14 0011 1110 6 E 0110 1110  
? 3 15 0011 1111 6 F 0110 1111  
@ 4 0 0100 0000 7 C 0111 1100  
A 4 1 0100 0001 C 1 1100 0001  
B 4 2 0100 0010 C 2 1100 0010  
C 4 3 0100 0011 C 3 1100 0011  
D 4 4 0100 0100 C 4 1100 0100  
E 4 5 0100 0101 C 5 1100 0101  
F 4 6 0100 0110 C 6 1100 0110  
G 4 7 0100 0111 C 7 1100 0111  
H 4 8 0100 1000 C 8 1100 1000  
I 4 9 0100 1001 C 9 1100 1001  
J 4 10 0100 1010 D 1 1101 0001  
K 4 11 0100 1011 D 2 1101 0010  
L 4 12 0100 1100 D 3 1101 0011  
M 4 13 0100 1101 D 4 1101 0100  
N 4 14 0100 1110 D 5 1101 0101  
O 4 15 0100 1111 D 6 1101 0110  
P 5 0 0101 0000 D 7 1101 0111  
Q 5 1 0101 0001 D 8 1101 1000  
R 5 2 0101 0010 D 9 1101 1001  
S 5 3 0101 0011 E 2 1110 0010  
T 5 4 0101 0100 E 3 1110 0011  
U 5 5 0101 0101 E 4 1110 0100  
V 5 6 0101 0110 E 5 1110 0101  
W 5 7 0101 0111 E 6 1110 0110  
X 5 8 0101 1000 E 7 1110 0111  
Y 5 9 0101 1001 E 8 1110 1000  
Z 5 10 0101 1010 E 9 1110 1001  
[ 5 11 0101 1011 4 A 0100 1010  
\ 5 12 0101 1100 E 0 1110 0000 Reverse Slant
] 5 13 0101 1101 5 A 0101 1010  
¬2 5 14 0101 1110 5 F 0101 1111 Logical NOT
_ 5 15 0101 1111 6 D 0110 1101  
ˋ 6 0 0110 0000 7 9 0111 1001 Grave Accent
a 6 1 0110 0001 8 1 1000 0001  
b 6 2 0110 0010 8 2 1000 0010  
c 6 3 0110 0011 8 3 1000 0011  
d 6 4 0110 0100 8 4 1000 0100  
e 6 5 0110 0101 8 5 1000 0101  
f 6 6 0110 0110 8 6 1000 0110  
g 6 7 0110 0111 8 7 1000 0111  
h 6 8 0110 1000 8 8 1000 1000  
i 6 9 0110 1001 8 9 1000 1001  
j 6 10 0110 1010 9 1 1001 0001  
k 6 11 0110 1011 9 2 1001 0010  
l 6 12 0110 1100 9 3 1001 0011  
m 6 13 0110 1101 9 4 1001 0100  
n 6 14 0110 1110 9 5 1001 0101  
o 6 15 0110 1111 9 6 1001 0110  
p 7 0 0111 0000 9 7 1001 0111  
q 7 1 0111 0001 9 8 1001 1000  
r 7 2 0111 0010 9 9 1001 1001  
s 7 3 0111 0011 A 2 1010 0010  
t 7 4 0111 0100 A 3 1010 0011  
u 7 5 0111 0101 A 4 1010 0100  
v 7 6 0111 0110 A 5 1010 0101  
w 7 7 0111 0111 A 6 1010 0110  
x 7 8 0111 1000 A 7 1010 0111  
y 7 9 0111 1001 A 8 1010 1000  
z 7 10 0111 1010 A 9 1010 1001  
{ 7 11 0111 1011 C 0 1100 0000  
│ 7 12 0111 1100 6 A 0110 1010 Vertical Line
} 7 13 0111 1101 D 0 1101 0000  
~ 7 14 0111 1110 A 1 1010 0001 Tilde
DEL 7 15 0111 1111 0 7 0000 0111  

1 The graphic ! (Exclamation Point) can be used instead of | (Logical OR). 2 The graphic ‸ (Circumflex) can be used instead of ¬ (Logical NOT).