Eight characters are specifically designated as control characters for MARC 21 use:

escape character, 1B(hex) in MARC-8 and Unicode encoding

subfield delimiter, 1F(hex) in MARC-8 and Unicode encoding

field terminator, 1E(hex) in MARC-8 and Unicode encoding

record terminator, 1D(hex) in MARC-8 and Unicode encoding

non-sorting character(s) begin, 88(hex) in MARC-8 and 98(hex) in Unicode encoding

non-sorting character(s) end, 89(hex) in MARC-8 and 9C(hex) in Unicode encoding

joiner, 8D(hex) in MARC-8 and 200D (hex) in Unicode encoding

nonjoiner, 8E(hex) in MARC-8 and 200C (hex) in Unicode encoding.

These are the only control characters that may be used in MARC-8 encoded records.  The joiner and nonjoiner characters are sometimes required to control the display form of graphic characters whose proximity to other characters affects their shape; as can happen, for example, in the Arabic script.  Specifications for use of the sorting control characters are contained in the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data.

To return, select:

Part 1:  General Character Set Issues

Character Sets and Encoding Options