Entering and Displaying Control Characters in TELNET or EDLIN (32866)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 2.11
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.2
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.21
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
This article was previously published under Q32866

SUMMARY

To enter a control character into a text file using EDLIN, press CTRL+V followed by the character that identifies the particular control character desired (if that character is an alphabetic character it must be capitalized). For example, to enter CTRL+G (ASCII character 07h) in EDLIN, type CTRL+V followed by the capital letter G. EDLIN will display this particular input as ^VG.

Please note that EDLIN displays control characters differently, depending on whether you are entering text or you are listing some lines in a file. In the previous example, EDLIN represents CTRL+G as ^VG when you are inputting text. However, when you exit EDLIN's input mode and list the line that contains the CTRL+G character, EDLIN displays the CTRL+G as ^G. This behavior is consistent with all control characters except CTRL+I (tab), CTRL+J (linefeed), and CTRL+M (carriage return); when EDLIN lists a line that contains these characters, it interprets them literally.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is a list of ASCII control-code characters, 0 through 31, that many try to include in a text file. The most common control-code character is the ESC-key character, ASCII value 27 decimal. 
   Decimal  Hexadecimal  Character  Mnemonic

   00       00           NUL        ^@
   01       01           SOH        ^A
   02       02           STX        ^B
   03       03           ETX        ^C
   04       04           EOT        ^D
   05       05           ENQ        ^E
   06       06           ACK        ^F
   07       07           BEL        ^G
   08       08           BS         ^H
   09       09           HT         ^I
   10       0A           LF         ^J
   11       0B           VT         ^K
   12       0C           FF         ^L
   13       0D           CR         ^M
   14       0E           SO         ^N
   15       0F           SI         ^O
   16       10           DLE        ^P
   17       11           DC1        ^Q
   18       12           DC2        ^R
   19       13           DC3        ^S
   20       14           DC4        ^T
   21       15           NAK        ^U
   22       16           ETB        ^W
   23       17           SYN        ^V
   24       18           CAN        ^X
   25       19           EM         ^Y
   26       1A           SUB        ^Z
   27       1B           ESC        ^[
   28       1C           FS         ^\ 
   29       1D           GS         ^]
   30       1E           RS         ^^
   31       1F           US         ^_
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/25/2003
Keywords:KB32866
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.