Entering Special Characters in MS-DOS Editor (5.0 & Later) (69377)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q69377

SUMMARY

You can enter any special ASCII characters into a file in the MS-DOS Editor by pressing CTRL+P and then ALT+<ASCII character code>.

NOTE: You must use the numeric keypad to enter the ASCII character code.

MORE INFORMATION

The escape character is one type of ASCII character. There are three ways to enter this character:
  • Press CTRL+P, then ALT+027
  • Press CTRL+P, then CTRL+[
  • Press CTRL+P, then ESC.
When you use any of the above methods, a left arrow representing the escape character is displayed.

The only special character MS-DOS Editor does not always accept is the CTRL+Z character (ALT 026). If you press CTRL+Z on a line with other text, the character is accepted. However, if CTRL+Z is the only character on the line, MS-DOS Editor removes it from the file. If you start Edlin with the /B option, you can enter CTRL+Z on its own line. The /B option forces Edlin to ignore end-of-file (EOF) characters.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/10/2003
Keywords:KB69377
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