Encoding method

Describes how the data is encoded. You can choose from the following values:

Data type default
Use the default value of the data type selected.

Use CCSID
Use the CCSID specified for the data type.

For bit data
Data that is not associated with a coded character set and is never converted. The CCSID for bit data is 65535.

For SBCS data
Data in which every character is represented by a single byte. Each SBCS data character string has an associated CCSID. If necessary, an SBCS data character string is converted before it is used in an operation with a character string that has a different CCSID.

For mixed data
Data that may contain a mixture of characters from a single-byte character set (SBCS) and a double-byte character set (DBCS). Each mixed data character string has an associated CCSID. If necessary, a mixed data character string is converted before an operation with a character string that has a different CCSID. If mixed data contains a DBCS character, it cannot be converted to SBCS data.

UCS-2
A deprecated Unicode encoding, ISO/IEC 10646 encoding form: Universal Character Set coded in 2 bytes. It is indicated by CCSID 13488 and can be used to store Unicode for versions prior to V5R3.

UTF-8
Unicode Transformation Format, 8-bit encoding form. UTF-8 is the Unicode Transformation Format that serializes a Unicode scalar value (code point) as a sequence of one to four bytes. It is indicated by CCSID 1208 and can be used to store Unicode for versions V5R3M0 and beyond.

UTF-16
Unicode Transformation Format, 16-bit encoding form. The UTF-16 is the Unicode Transformation Format that serializes a Unicode scalar value (code point) as a sequence of two or four bytes. It is indicated by CCSID 1200 and can be used to store unicode for versions V5R3M0 and beyond.