ISO/IEC 8859-2:1999 PDF

Overview

ISO/IEC 8859-2:1999 - Information technology - 8‑bit single‑byte coded graphic character sets - Part 2: Latin alphabet No. 2 - specifies an 8‑bit single‑byte character set of 191 coded graphic characters intended for data and text processing and for information interchange. Commonly called ISO/IEC 8859-2 or “Latin alphabet No. 2,” the standard targets languages used in Central and Eastern Europe, including Albanian, Croat, Czech, English, German, Hungarian, Latin, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene and Sorbian.

Key topics and technical requirements

• 8‑bit single‑byte encoding: characters are encoded in a 16×16 code table (256 positions) with 191 graphic characters defined by unique bit combinations.
• Character set contents: includes standard ASCII range plus additional Latin letters with diacritics, NO‑BREAK SPACE (NBSP) and SOFT HYPHEN (SHY); names and identifiers are aligned with ISO/IEC 10646-1.
• Conformance rules:
  • Interchanged data (CC‑data‑elements) must contain only the coded representations specified by clause 6.
  • Device conformance is specified for originating and receiving devices (device description, character supply and recognition).
• Compatibility model:
  • May be regarded as an 8‑bit code according to ISO/IEC 2022 or ISO/IEC 4873 (level 1).
  • Not intended to be combined directly with other parts of ISO/IEC 8859; if multiple parts are required, use the equivalent sets from ISO/IEC 10367 within ISO/IEC 4873 level 2 or 3.
• Control functions: can be used from ISO/IEC 6429, but control functions must not be used to create composite graphic symbols.

Applications and who uses it

ISO/IEC 8859-2 is most useful for:

• Software developers and system integrators working with legacy encodings or maintaining interoperability with older systems.
• Localization and translation teams supporting Central and Eastern European languages in environments where Unicode is not yet adopted.
• Document archivists, embedded systems and data interchange workflows that require a compact single‑byte encoding.
• Implementers of protocols or appliances that explicitly reference ISO/IEC 8859 series encodings.

Practical uses include office text processing, mail and document exchange, and any application where an 8‑bit Latin script encoding is required for the listed languages.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 2022 - character code structure and extension techniques
• ISO/IEC 4873 - structure and rules for 8‑bit codes
• ISO/IEC 6429 - control functions for coded character sets
• ISO/IEC 10367 - code extension techniques and equivalent sets
• ISO/IEC 10646 / Unicode - character names and identifiers mapping

Keywords: ISO/IEC 8859-2, Latin alphabet No. 2, 8-bit single-byte, character set, Central European languages, encoding, ISO/IEC 4873, ISO/IEC 2022, legacy encodings, NO-BREAK SPACE, SOFT HYPHEN.