CCSIDs a.k.a Code Pages in IBM PASE for i

It all started with iconv() function in iSeries PASE. I need to figure out how to convert strings back and forth between iSeries PASE and ILE programs. I didn't realize at first that there were TWO instead of one libiconv library installed on the iSeries I worked with. One from GNU and one from IBM (the original one). I had to specify the one I intend to use specifically in my Makefile.am as follows:

 pase_to_rpg_string_LDADD = /QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData/OS400/PASE/lib/libiconv.a

Well, then it turned out, the code page "string" specified for ILE C didn't work out. I found out that the code page string should be as shown here. I'm puzzled as to where that guy found the code page string. Then, I finally found that it was AIX code page specification after all, as this link shows. I reproduce it below, just in case (and hopefully IBM doesn't mind ;).

Table 1. CICS Shortcodes, CCSIDs and code pages that TXSeries for Multiplatforms supports

CICS short code name	CCSID	AIX® and Windows code page	HP–UX code page name	Solaris code page name	Description
37	37	IBM-037	american_e	IBM-037	IBMLatin-1 EBCDIC
8859-1	819	ISO8859-1	iso8859_1	8859	Latin-1 ASCII (ISO)
819	819	ISO8859-1	iso8859_1	8859	Latin-1 ASCII (IBM/ISO)
850	850	IBM-850	roman8	IBM-850	Latin-1 ASCII
437	437	IBM-437	iso8859_1	IBM-437	Latin-1 (PC) ASCII
930	930	IBM-930	cp930	IBM-930	Japanese EBCDIC
931	931	IBM-931	japanese_e	IBM-931	Japanese EBCDIC
939	939	IBM-939	cp939	IBM-939	Japanese EBCDIC
932	932	IBM-932	sjis	ja_JP.pck	Japanese ASCII
EUCJP	954	IBM-eucJP	eucJP	eucJP	Japanese ASCII (ISO)
942	942	IBM-942	IBM-942	IBM-942	Japanese ASCII
943	943	IBM-943	IBM-943	IBM-943	Japanese ASCII
EUCKR	970	IBM-eucKR	eucKR	eucKR	Korean ASCII (ISO)
934	934	IBM-934	IMB-934	IBM-934	Korean ASCII
944	944	IBM-944	IBM-944	IBM-944	Korean ASCII
949	949	IBM-949	korean15	IBM-949	Korean ASCII
933	933	IBM-933	korean_e	IBM-933	Korean EBCDIC
EUCTW	964	IBM-eucTW	IBM-eucTW	eucTW	Traditional Chinese
938	938	IBM-938	IBM-938	IBM-938	Traditional Chinese ASCII
948	948	IBM-948	IBM-948	IBM-948	Traditional Chinese ASCII
937	937	IBM-937	chinese-t_e	IBM-937	Traditional Chinese EBCDIC
BIG5	950	Zh_TW.big5	big5	zh_TW.BIG5	Traditional Chinese BIG5
946	946	IBM-946	IBM-946	IBM-946	Simplified Chinese ASCII
1381	1381	IBM-1381	hp15CN	IBM-1381	Simplified Chinese ASCII
935	935	IBM-935	chinese-s_e	IBM-935	Simplified Chinese EBCDIC
EUCN	1383	IBM-eucCN	chinese-s_e	eucCN	Simplified Chinese ASCII (ISO)
GB18030	5488	GB18030	gb18030	GB18030	Simplified Chinese GB18030
864	864	IBM-864	arabic8	IBM-864	Arabic ASCII
8859-6	1089	ISO8859-6	iso8859_6	ISO8859-6	Arabic ASCII (ISO)
1089	1089	ISO8859-6	iso8859_6	ISO8859-6	Arabic ASCII (IBM/ISO)
420	420	IBM-420	arabic_e	IBM-420	Arabic EBCDIC
855	855	IBM-855	IBM-855	IBM-855	Cyrillic ASCII
866	866	IBM-866	IBM-866	IBM-866	Cyrillic ASCII
8859-5	915	ISO8859-5	iso8859_5	ISO8859-5	Cyrillic ASCII (ISO)
915	915	ISO8859-5	iso8859_5	ISO8859-5	Cyrillic ASCII (IBM/ISO)
1025	1025	IBM-1025	IBM-1025	IBM-1025	Multilingual Cyrillic EBCDIC
869	869	IBM-869	greek8	IBM-869	Greek ASCII
8859-7	813	ISO8859-7	iso8859_7	ISO8859-7	Greek ASCII (ISO)
813	813	ISO8859-7	iso8859_7	ISO8859-7	Greek ASCII (IBM/ISO)
875	875	IBM-875	greek_e	IBM-875	Greek EBCDIC
856	856	IBM-856	hebrew8	IBM-856	Hebrew ASCII
8859-8	916	ISO8859-8	iso8859_8	ISO8859-8	Hebrew ASCII (ISO)
916	916	ISO8859-8	iso8859_8	ISO8859-8	Hebrew ASCII (IBM/ISO)
424	424	IBM-424	hebrew_e	IBM-424	Hebrew EBCDIC
273	273	IBM-273	german_e	IBM-273	Austria, Germany EBCDIC
277	277	IBM-277	danish_e	IBM-277	Denmark, Norway EBCDIC
278	278	IBM-278	finnish_e	IBM-278	Finland, Sweden EBCDIC
280	280	IBM-280	italian_e	IBM-280	Italy EBCDIC
284	284	IBM-284	spanish_e	IBM-284	Spain, Latin Am.(Sp) EBCDIC
285	285	IBM-285	english_e	IBM-285	UK EBCDIC
297	297	IBM-297	french_e	IBM-297	France EBCDIC
500	500	IBM-500	IBM-500	IBM-500	International latin-1 EBCDIC
871	871	IBM-871	icelandic_e	IBM-871	Iceland EBCDIC
852	852	IBM-852	IBM-852	IBM-852	Latin-2 ASCII
8859-2	912	ISO8859-2	iso8859_2	ISO8859-2	Latin-2 ASCII (ISO)
912	912	ISO8859-2	iso8859_2	ISO8859-2	Latin-2 ASCII (IBM/ISO)
870	870	IBM-870	IBM-870	IBM-870	Latin-2 EBCDIC
857	857	IBM-857	turkish8	IBM-857	Turkey ASCII
8859-9	920	ISO8859-9	iso8859_9	ISO8859-9	Turkey ASCII (ISO)
920	920	ISO8859-9	iso8859_9	ISO8859-9	Turkey ASCII (IBM/ISO)
1026	1026	IBM-1026	turkish_e	IBM-1026	Turkey EBCDIC
UTF-8	1208	UTF-8 (only)	UTF-8	UTF-8	Unicode file code set
UCS-2	1200	UCS-2 (only)	UCS-2	UCS-2	Unicode processing code set

So, next time, you code on iSeries PASE, use "IBM-037" (EBCDIC code page) and "ISO8859-1" (ASCII 8-bit) strings to convert back and forth.

I hope this post will somehow save somebody someday.