Transferring Data from ASCII Text Files

When you transfer data from ASCII text files to system files, the data changes as follows:
  • ASCII character data changes to EBCDIC character, date, time, or time-stamp data (based on the iSeries, eServer™ i5, or System i5® field type) on a byte-to-byte basis, or to hexadecimal data by changing 2 ASCII bytes into 1 hexadecimal byte.
  • ASCII numeric data changes to iSeries, eServer i5, or System i5 binary, zoned decimal, or packed decimal data, depending on the specified data type.

    The field lengths on the iSeries, eServer i5, or System i5 and the workstation are different because of the explicit way minus signs and decimal points are stored in ASCII numeric fields. Each field changes individually, to ensure that the resulting field length matches the specifications for that field. The data transfer function tries to fit the workstation data into the system field.

  • For null-capable iSeries, eServer i5, or System i5 fields, null values (except date, time, and time stamp) cannot be reliably detected and are not uploaded. For variable-length iSeries, eServer i5, or System i5 fields, trailing blanks are removed and the field is converted to the variable-length format.
Parent topic: ASCII Text Files