Each custom character set must have a unique name (CharSetName), 1-30 characters in length, in the form:
CHARACTERSETNAME_0X
where:
- The name must begin with an unaccented, uppercase Roman letter.
- The rest of the name can use only unaccented uppercase Roman letters, digits, the underscore, the dollar sign, or the number sign.
- The numeric character must be zero. Other values are reserved for future use.
- The alpha character indicates the type of encoding used in the character set, as shown in the following table:
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| a | Single-byte character ASCII. |
| e | Single-byte character EBCDIC. |
| i | IBM (SO/SI style) mixed character single- and multibyte characters. |
| u | EUC mixed character single-byte characters/multibyte characters. |
| s | Shift-JIS mixed character single-byte characters/multibyte characters and graphic multibyte characters. |
| b-d, f-h, j-r, t, v-z | Single- and multibyte extended site-defined character sets. |
For example, the suffix _0i in the name KANJIEBCDIC5026_0i implies IBM mixed single- and multibyte characters.
Common character set names, such as ASCII, EBCDIC and UTF8 cannot be used for site-defined character sets. It also recognizes the special character set name KATAKANAEDBCDIC that is used to specify characteristics similar to the suffix “_0i”. Other site-defined character set names are given characteristics as if the name ends in either “_0a” or “_0e”.
Referencing a Client Character Set Name
The suffix is part of the client character set name. The complete name must be included in any references to the character set, for example, in a BTEQ SET SESSION CHARSET command.