PrintableString

A PrintableString is a Universal Tag in the ASN.1 notation.

According to RFC 3280 [1], PrintableString is an acceptable character set for the DirectoryName data type. PrintableString comprises a subset of the ASCII character set, and does not include the at sign (@) or ampersand (&). This sometimes causes problems for naive implementers who attempt to put an SMTP email address into an X.509 digital certificate Distinguished Name.

According to the Layman's Guide to a Subset of ASN.1, BER, and DER [2], the character set of PrintableString can be expressed as:

A, B, ..., Z
a, b, ..., z
0, 1, ..., 9
(space) ' ( ) + , - . / : = ?

References

1. Housley, R.; Polk, W.; Ford, W.; Solo, D., Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3280.txt, retrieved 2007-06-19 
2. Kaliski, Jr., Burton, A Layman's Guide to a Subset of ASN.1, BER, and DER, http://www.columbia.edu/~ariel/ssleay/layman.html, retrieved 2007-06-19 
3. Larmouth, John, ASN.1 Complete, http://www.oss.com/asn1/booksintro.html, retrieved 2009-02-10 
4. Dubuisson, Olivier, ASN.1 - Communication Between Heterogeneous Systems, http://www.oss.com/asn1/booksintro.html, retrieved 2009-02-10 
5. ITU-T, Information technology – Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1): Specification of basic notation (X.680 - 07/2002), http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com17/languages/X.680-0207.pdf, retrieved 2009-02-10