ISO 6093:1985

Overview

ISO 6093:1985 specifies standardized ways to represent numerical values in machine‑readable character strings for information interchange between data processing systems. It defines three allowed formats (NR1, NR2, NR3), the permitted character subset (from ISO 646), rules for signs, decimal marks, field lengths and semantics, and guidance for programming‑language and implementation support. The standard applies only to base‑10 numbers composed of a finite number of digits, with or without a decimal mark.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Three numeric representations
  • NR1 (implicit‑point / implicit scaling): Positional notation where the decimal point is implicit and its position is fixed by field description. Signed and unsigned forms allowed; at least one digit required.
  • NR2 (explicit‑point / unscaled): Positional notation with an explicit decimal mark (FULL STOP or COMMA). Signed and unsigned forms allowed; decimal mark must appear in the field.
  • NR3 (significand + exponent / scaled): Significand and exponent form (A E B), where value = significand × 10^exponent. Exponent uses E or e followed by signed digits; normalized form requires significand in 0.1