EDI HQ “How To”?
EDIFACT Delimiters – Default vs Custom
Unlike X12 EDI, EDIFACT has standard delimiters. In regular EDIFACT files the delimiting is as follows:
Data Element Separator = +
Component Element Separator = :
Segment Terminator = ‘
Decimal Mark = .
Escape/Release Indicator = ?
Below is a sample EDIFACT showing the standardized delimiting. (New lines added for clarity – they will not actually be in the EDI file.)
UNB+UNOA:2+123456789:ZZZ+ABCDEF:ZZZ+190908:1745+192394++ORDERS’
UNH+1+ORDERS:D:96A:’
BGM+220:::ORDERS+123456′
DTM+137:20190908:102′
NAD+BY+1111::9++SAMPLE CO’
LIN+1++78987:BP’
QTY+21:2700′
PRI+AAA:2.94′
UNS+S’
CNT+2:1′
UNT+10+1′
UNZ+1+192394′
It is possible to use delimiting that is non-standard. This requires the use of an additional segment ahead of the UNB segment – the UNA segment.
The UNA segment is set up as follows. The UNA segment tag plus the exact characters to be used for delimiting.
UNA01 – Component Data Element Separator (default = : )
UNA02 – Data Element Separator (default = + )
UNA03 – Decimal Mark (default = . )
UNA04 – Release Indicator (default = ? )
UNA05 – Reserved for Future Use (default = [space] )
UNA06 – Segment Terminator (default = ‘ )
In the top example, a UNA segment is optional because default delimiting is used. If it was to be included it would look like this: UNA:+.? ‘
If non-standard delimiting is used, the UNA segment is required. In the following example, the : Component Data Element Separator has been exchanged for ^, the + Data Element Separator has been exchanged for ~, and the ‘ Segment terminator has been exchanged for @.
UNA^~.? @
UNH~1~ORDERS^D^96A^@
EDI HQ can handle non-standard EDIFACT delimiting. With the inclusion of the UNA segment specifying these delimiting characters, the EDI is valid and will import into EDI HQ without issue.
