The simple explanation is this. DOS and RBDOS use the so-called extended
ASCII character set. Get the ASCII extended character by typing alt plus the
3-digit number. Get the so-called ANSI (ASCII is actually an ANSI standard
so this IS confusing) character - used by Windows and RBWin - by typing alt
plus 0 plus the 3 digit code. BUT, what you see depends on the font being
used to display it. Most Windows fonts use the ANSI characters. "Terminal"
is the notable exception and you may have a Courier OEM font available that
uses extended ASCII.
The hard blank is CHAR(255) in ASCII (which is � in ANSI).
The hard blank is CHAR(160) in ANSI (which is � in ASCII).
Regards,
Stephen Markson
ForenSys The Forensic Systems Group
www.ForensicSystemsGroup.com
416 482 2140
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicky Avery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2001 1:29 AM
Subject: Re: Goofy looking blanks
> Stephen,
>
> According to my ancient R:Base manual's ASCII table, 255 is supposed to
> be "blank", 0 is "null" and 32 is "space" so at first I thought you were
> mistaken but I decided to check. I came across an interesting site about
> ASCII characters and snipped the following at
> http://www.robelle.com/smugbook/win3x.html#altnum. (Robelle produces
> QEDIT.)
>
> > DOS and Windows allow you to create Extended Characters such as y-umlaut
with the help of a numeric code. To
> > enter any character from the IBM PC Extended Character (ECS), which is
standard on DOS, hold down the Alt key
> > while you enter the 3-digit decimal code. For example, Alt-152 is
y-umlaut in ECS. Since HP uses the Roman-8
> > Character Set, the Reflection Terminal Emulator for DOS accepts Alt-152,
but translates the character into decimal
> > 239 (what HP expects for the Roman-8 y-umlaut character).
> >
> > The situation in MS Windows is more complex and the only way to simplify
it is to get a National Keyboard. To be
> > compatible with DOS, you can still use Alt plus a 3-digit ECS code, but
only if the character exists in the ANSI
> > Character Set used by Windows. Windows then converts the character from
the ECS code to the equivalent ANSI
> > code. For example, y-umlaut is entered as Alt-152 but is translated to
decimal 255. Or you can enter the ANSI code,
> > but must convert it to 4-digits by preceding it with a 0 (zero). Thus
Alt-0255 is also y-umlaut.
>
> I see this substitution of chars. consistently with a set of ASCII text
> reports I use which are generated by originally DOS code. When I drag
> them into what I expect is an ECS text editor, instead of lines built
> from ECS char 196, I get lines of ECS 152, the now notorious y-umlaut.
>
> Nicky
>
