CCSID
Coded character set identifier: a number that names which character encoding some data uses, so it can be converted correctly.
Also written code page, codepage, CCSID 37, CCSID 1047, CCSID 1208, code page conversion
A CCSID, or coded character set identifier, is a number that says exactly how text is encoded. Saying "EBCDIC" is not enough, because there are many EBCDIC code pages, each with small differences, and ASCII and Unicode come in several versions too.
Some numbers come up often. CCSID 37 is a common EBCDIC code page for the United States and Canada. CCSID 285 is EBCDIC for the United Kingdom. CCSID 1047 is the EBCDIC code page used by default in Unix System Services. CCSID 819 is ISO 8859-1, a form of ASCII, and CCSID 1208 is UTF-8.
The differences matter for a small number of characters. Square brackets, the pound and dollar signs, and some accented letters are in different places in different code pages. When data is converted using the wrong CCSID, those characters come out wrong.
DB2 tables, MQ messages, Unix files and file transfers can all carry a CCSID, so conversion can happen correctly. When characters look wrong after moving data, checking the CCSID at each end is the first step.
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- EBCDICThe character encoding mainframes use, where letters and numbers are stored as different byte values than on a laptop.
- File transferMoving data between the mainframe and other systems, where character encoding and record structure both need attention.
- Unix System ServicesA full Unix environment built into z/OS, with a shell, directories and files alongside the traditional mainframe world.
- DB2 for z/OSIBM's relational database on the mainframe, where a great deal of the world's banking and insurance data is stored.
- IBM MQMessaging software that passes messages between programs, on the same system or across many systems, so they can work together without waiting for each other.