  The problem of channel coding with the erasure option is revisited for
discrete memoryless channels. The interplay between the code rate, the
undetected and total error probabilities is characterized. Using the
information spectrum method, a sequence of codes of increasing blocklengths $n$
is designed to illustrate this tradeoff. Furthermore, for additive discrete
memoryless channels with uniform input distribution, we establish that our
analysis is tight with respect to the ensemble average. This is done by
analysing the ensemble performance in terms of a tradeoff between the code
rate, the undetected and the total errors. This tradeoff is parametrized by the
threshold in a generalized likelihood ratio test. Two asymptotic regimes are
studied. First, the code rate tends to the capacity of the channel at a rate
slower than $n^{-1/2}$ corresponding to the moderate deviations regime. In this
case, both error probabilities decay subexponentially and asymmetrically. The
precise decay rates are characterized. Second, the code rate tends to capacity
at a rate of $n^{-1/2}$. In this case, the total error probability is
asymptotically a positive constant while the undetected error probability
decays as $\exp(- b n^{ 1/2})$ for some $b>0$. The proof techniques involve
applications of a modified (or "shifted") version of the G\"artner-Ellis
theorem and the type class enumerator method to characterize the asymptotic
behavior of a sequence of cumulant generating functions.
