CCSID support for messages

You can use CCSID support for handling messages and message catalogs on the IBM® i operating system by using commands and application programming interfaces. You can send messages tagged with one CCSID to users with a different CCSID.

Note: You do not need a multinational character set (MNCS) when using CCSIDs for handling messages.

For example, if you do not set CCSID support on, the following message, encoded in CCSID 00037:

  Joe, I need to see you right away!

appears to a user with CCSID 00500 as

  Joe, I need to see you right away]

Instead of seeing an exclamation mark (!), Joe sees a right square bracket (]). If you set CCSID support on, the text in a message encoded in CCSID 00037 is converted to CCSID 00500. Both the person sending the message and the person receiving the message see identical text.

CCSID support helps preserve data integrity in messages. As you read through this information, you will see other advantages to using CCSID support for messages.

Message-handling commands for CCSIDs

The following message handling commands support CCSIDs:

  • CRTMSGF (Create Message File)
  • CRTMSGQ (Create Message Queue)
  • CHGMSGQ (Change Message Queue)
  • ADDRPYLE (Add Reply List Entry)
  • CHGRPYLE (Change Reply List Entry)
  • CHGMSGD (Change Message Description)
  • RTVMSG (Retrieve Message)
  • RCVMSG (Receive Message)
  • SNDBRKMSG (Send Break Message)
  • SNDMSG (Send Message)
  • SNDPGMMSG (Send Program Message)
  • SNDRPY (Send Reply)
  • SNDUSRMSG (Send user Message)