Code page

In computing, a code page is a table of values that describes the character set used for encoding a particular set of glyphs, usually combined with a number of control characters. The term "code page" originated from IBM's EBCDIC-based mainframe systems, but many vendors use this term, including Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle Corporation. Originally, the code page numbers were referring to the page numbers in the IBM standard character set manual, a condition which no longer holds true for a long while. Vendors often allocate their own code page number to a character encoding, even if it is better known by another name (for example UTF-8 character encoding has code page numbers 1208 at IBM, 65001 at Microsoft, 4110 at SAP). The multitude of code page assignments leads many vendors to recommend Unicode.

IBM introduced the concept of systematically assigning a small, but globally unique, 16 bit number to each character encoding that a computer system or collection of computer systems might encounter. The IBM origin of the numbering scheme is reflected in the fact that the smallest (first) numbers are assigned to variations of IBM's EBCDIC encoding and slightly larger numbers refer to variations of IBM's extended ASCII encoding as used in its PC hardware.

With the release of PC DOS version 3.3 (and the near identical MS-DOS 3.3) IBM introduced the code page numbering system to regular PC users, as the code page numbers (and the phrase "code page") were used in new commands to allow the character encoding used by all parts of the OS to be set in a systematic way.

After IBM and Microsoft ceased to cooperate in the 1990s, the two companies have maintained the list of assigned code page numbers independently from each other, resulting in some conflicting assignments. At least one third-party vendor (Oracle) also has its own different list of numeric assignments. IBM's current assignments are listed in their CCSID repository, while Microsoft's assignments are documented within the MSDN. Additionally, a list of the names and approximate IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) abbreviations for the installed code pages on any given Windows machine can be found in the Registry on that machine (this information is used by Microsoft programs such as Internet Explorer).

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