How do I know what character set is used in x12 document?

Question

I am implementing an EDI-x12 header parser (only to parse "ISA" segment) I notice that there are several character sets can be used.

My question is that how do I know that which one is used of incoming edi-x12 message so that I know how to interpret the message?

Answer 1

actually there is no such thing as a character set in x12. this is up to the partners/interchange agreement. but as X12 is mainly used in USA, it is us-ascii (almost always). (but .....some companies send x12 as EBCEDIC ;-)))