Delimiters

Delimiters separate various syntax structures of an X12 document.

Delimiters consist of three separators and a terminator. Each interchange in an X12 document specifies the set of delimiters to use for that interchange.

The delimiters to be used in the interchange are defined in the interchange header segment (ISA).

The delimiters contain the following items:

• Data element separator

• Component element separator

• Replacement character

• Segment terminator

The delimiter characters defined in the ISA segment must not be used in a data element value elsewhere in the interchange. However, defined delimiter characters can appear within a binary data element.