Free Online EBCDIC to ASCII Text Converter
Welcome to Pacific Systems Group's free online text converter. If you just need to translate EBCDIC text characters to ASCII, this free tool should do the trick. Just enter the name of an EBCDIC data file, or paste EBCDIC data directly into the EBCDIC Text box below. Detailed instructions here.
However, if your file also contains non-text fields, such as binary or packed numbers, you will need a different solution. (Such as Spectrum Writer, the 4GL report writer and file format
utility for z/OS and VSE mainframes.)
To see a demo, press the Convert button now to convert the sample data that is in the EBCDIC Text box.
Instructions
EBCDIC Box This box contains the text that will be converted to ASCII. You can fill in this box by pasting EBCDIC text directly into it. Or you can choose an EBCDIC file to convert. (The program will load it into the EBCDIC box for you when you click "Convert".) You can convert up to 50,000 bytes.
Note: Be sure to paste only pure EBCDIC text into the box. Text copied using some programs (like word processors) may contain formatting codes and other extraneous bytes that will corrupt the conversion.
Record Length Unlike ASCII files, EBCDIC files do not contain "line feed, carriage return" bytes to indicate where a record ends. Instead, all records in the file have a fixed, constant length. (At present, this program does not convert variable-length EBCDIC files.) If you know the length of the EBCDIC records, fill in this box. The converter will then add line-breaks to your ASCII output after each record. (If no length is specified, the output will be one big line.)
For Non-Text Bytes This converter is designed to correctly translate EBCDIC text (letters, numerals and standard punctuation marks) into ASCII. This option tells the converter what to do if a non-text byte is encountered in the EBCDIC file. By default, non-text characters are translated to question marks. You can change this to any single character of your choice. Or, you can choose to leave the non-text byte as it is, with no conversion.
Convert, Clear Buttons After you have chosen a file to convert (or pasted EBCDIC text into the box) and supplied the record length (if known), press the Convert button. The translated ASCII text will appear in the ASCII Text box. Press the Clear button to clear out the EBCDIC and the ASCII text boxes to perform another conversion.
Coming Soon
In the coming months, we plan to offer an economical PC product that does much more than just translate EBCDIC text to ASCII. It will also reformat binary and packed numeric fields, date fields, etc. And it will reformat the data into a comma delimited ASCII file, for easy use in PC spreadsheet programs, databases, etc. And you can be part of our design team!
Click here to e-mail us a sample of the kind of EBCDIC records that you need converted to ASCII. (Include a description of the record layout, if you have one.) We'll do our best to make sure that the final product can handle your needs. (Include your e-mail address and we will notify you when the program is available.)
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure this program's accuracy, it is provided "as-is," without warranty of any kind. Use it at your own risk. Pacific Systems Group, LLC shall not be liable for the any erroneous results, or for incidental or consequential damages resulting from the performance, furnishing or use of this program.
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