IBM i copy (Copy) Command

In both the HFS and LIB file systems, if a file with multi-byte characters, including DBCS (Double Byte Character Set), is transferred using UDM in text mode, data loss or corruption can occur. This is because UDM is basically SBCS (Single Byte Character Set) in nature.

If an SBCS code page is used for the data transfer in text mode, some data can be translated into characters that do not translate back to the same data when written to the target file.

To transfer these type of files, users normally should use binary mode and should be very careful if they find it necessary to use text mode.