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Glite Dictionary
💾 A computer encoding 💾 Specially encoded
EBCDIC

EBCDIC

9.9
A system computers use to represent letters and numbers, used mostly on IBM mainframes
  • symbol
  • /ˈiːbɪˌsiːˈdɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : EBCDIC
  • The legacy banking system still processes data using EBCDIC instead of modern encodings.

Examples

  • Many IBM mainframes rely on EBCDIC for representing text characters internally.

  • To transfer files between platforms, the EBCDIC format must be converted to ASCII.

  • The mainframe uses EBCDIC for data processing.

  • Can you convert the file from EBCDIC to ASCII?

  • The legacy banking system still processes data using EBCDIC instead of modern encodings.

  • To transfer files between platforms, the EBCDIC format must be converted to ASCII.

  • Many IBM mainframes rely on EBCDIC for representing text characters internally.

How Common

Unicode
  • Specialized
5 4.5
ASCII
  • Specialized
1 4.6
EBCDIC
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

EBCDIC main

Morphology

EBCDIC = E + B + C + D + I + C

EBCDIC is an initialism/acronym composed of letters, not productive English morphemes, so its meaning cannot be derived from the component letters by an average learner.

Etymology

EBCDIC is the name of an old IBM character code. The letters come from the long name Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code, which you can think of as 'a way to code' letters and numbers for big mainframe computers, and that's why EBCDIC refers to that specific way of showing text.