Right, the "not defined" is kind of a subset of what I wrote. You can't fit 155K characters into a 256-byte matrix!
"Broken" UTF is, of course, another problem, as you note. "Just substitute the empty box character"--oh wait... -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Kirk Wolf Sent: Saturday, January 3, 2026 1:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Please vote for COBOL "idea" for reverse character translation Peter, I would assume that IBM didn't implement UTF-8 -> EBCDIC "MOVE" conversions because of the issues: - What if the source field ended in the middle of a UTF sequence? Error or Subsitute char? - What if there is no EBCDIC character defined? Error or Substitute char? Were you able to get CUNLCNV working from COBOL? You could roll your own with that and control how you wanted it to behave. Besides, by the time IBM adds it to COBOL you won't need it any more :-) Kirk Wolf Dovetailed Technologies https://coztoolkit.com On Fri, Jan 2, 2026, at 6:18 PM, Farley, Peter wrote: > Following up on my own post to expand a little on my reasoning: The current > implementation of at least UTF-8 to EBCDIC character conversion is ALREADY IN > PLACE as part of the JSON PARSE statement. I am just asking them to move > that logic into MOVE operations as well. I actually don't care about the > NATIONAL character class as I currently have no business use for it, but I > included NATIONAL to keep the "idea" more general. I'd be satisfied if the > NATIONAL part was rejected and the UTF-8 part was accepted. > > Peter > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On > Behalf Of Farley, Peter > Sent: Friday, January 2, 2026 1:56 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Please vote for COBOL "idea" for reverse character > translation > > Currently Enterprise COBOL allows PIC X alphanumeric EBCDIC group and > elementary items to MOVE to UTF-8 (PIC U) and NATIONAL (PIC N) group and > elementary items with automatic character set translation, but the reverse > MOVE is not allowed. There is no technical reason why the reverse MOVE > should not be allowed, since the character set translation logic is already > in place for a PIC X MOVE into PIC U and PIC N. > > I have a bit more detail on the subject in the "idea" summary, please read > those details at the "ideas" page and vote for it. > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/COBOLVUE-I-427 > __;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!IAZEw5W2hk89dBIvLyXiwP3dYk-UdzHzB5 > EPYEoZ0vUZ8IEF6lk9vTHOs79jtzHYF-2mFkJc1fKGGf4rp_t_4JhI6-h9W-oR3nsh0dHa > $ > > TIA for your votes. > > Peter > -- > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If > the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail > and delete the message and any attachments from your system. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send > email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
