Significance of UNA segment in EDIFACT

This segment explains the list of delimiters used to parse the various elements of EDIFACT message. The list of delimiters used in the EDIFACT message is indicated using this UNA segment. This is the first segment of the native payload and it is optional. The UNA segment is followed by the six unique delimiters used in the EDI payload and is shown below.


UNA:+.? '

In this,
: (colon)Sub-elementseparator
+ (plus sign)Element Separator
. (period)Decimal Notation
? (question mark) Release Indicator
(space)Repetition Separator
' (single quote)Segment Terminator.

These are the default delimiters. It is also possible to override the above default delimiters. In case, if the delimiters are non-default, and UNA segment is missing, the EDIFACT message becomes invalid

Example:

UNA:+.? 'UNB+UNOB:1+GlobalChips:ZZZ+Acme:ZZZ+080630:0432+5002'UNG

In this example,
1. The elements UNB and UNOB are separated by +
2. The date time element as 2 sub elements i.e date and time, which is separated by :
080630:0432
3. The UNB and UNG segments are separated by '