Previous Segment
                                                   
No
Seg
St
Max. Occ.
                                               
1
C
1
 
The service string advice shall begin with the upper case characters UNA immediately followed by six characters in the order shown below.  The space character shall not be used in positions 010, 020, 040, 050 or 060.  The same character shall not be used in more than one position of the UNA.
Business Term
DE
EDIFACT
Format
St
*
Description
 
UNA1
Component data element separator
an1
M
*
Used as a separator between component data elements contained within a composite data element (default value: ":")
 
UNA2
Data element separator
an1
M
*
Used to separate two simple or composite data elements (default value: "+" )
 
UNA3
Decimal mark
an1
M
*
Used to indicate the character used for decimal notation (default value:".")
 
UNA4
Release character
an1
M
*
Used to restore any service character to its original specification (value: "?").
 
UNA5
Repetition separator
an1
M
*
Used to indicate the character used for repetition separation (value: " * " ).
 
UNA6
Segment terminator
an1
M
*
Used to indicate the end of segment data (default value: " ' ")
This segment is used to inform the receiver of the interchange that a set of service string characters which are different to the default characters are being used.
When using the default set of service characters, the UNA segment need not be sent. If it is sent, it must immediately precede the UNB segment and contain the four service string characters (positions UNA1, UNA2, UNA4 and UNA6) selected by the interchange sender.
Regardless of whether or not all of the service string characters are being changed every data element within this segment must be filled, (i.e., if some default values are being used with user defined ones, both the default and user defined values must be specified).
When expressing the service string characters in the UNA segment, it is not necessary to include any element separators.
The use of the UNA segment is required when using a character set other than level A.
           
Example:
UNA:+.?*'
Example:
UNA:+.?*'
                                                   
Previous Segment
                                                   
Max. Occ. = Maximum Occurrence, St = Status, * = Restricted Codes
Status: M=Mandatory, R=Required, O=Optional, C=Conditional, D=Dependent, A=Advised, N=Not used