DOS characters and HTML equivalents

www.masterfilepro.info/chars.htm

Here, with HTML equivalents, are the most used characters in the default DOS character set. Not included are those not needing conversion (all but four of those numbered 32-126), the drawing and graphics characters, and a few that do not seem to have equivalents.

DOS no. HTML no. HTML(1) Char.(1) HTML(2) Char.(2) Description
34 34 " " " " double quotation mark
38 38 & & & & ampersand
60 60 &#60; < &lt; < 'less than' sign
62 62 &#62; > &gt; > 'greater than' sign
128 199 &#199; Ç &Ccedil; Ç C cedilla
129 252 &#252; ü &uuml; ü u umlaut
130 233 &#233; é &eacute; é e acute
131 226 &#226; â &acirc; â a circumflex
132 228 &#228; ä &auml; ä a umlaut
133 224 &#224; à &agrave; à a grave
134 229 &#229; å &aring; å a ring / a bolle
135 231 &#231; ç &ccedil; ç c cedilla
136 234 &#234; ê &ecirc; ê e circumflex
137 235 &#235; ë &euml; ë e diaeresis
138 232 &#232; è &egrave; è e grave
139 239 &#239; ï &iuml; ï i diaeresis
140 238 &#238; î &icirc; î i circumflex
141 236 &#236; ì &igrave; ì i grave
142 196 &#196; Ä &Auml; Ä A umlaut
143 197 &#197; Å &Aring; Å A ring / A bolle
144 201 &#201; É &Eacute; É E acute
145 230 &#230; æ &aelig; æ ae ligature
146 198 &#198; Æ &AElig; Æ AE ligature
147 244 &#244; ô &ocirc; ô o circumflex
148 246 &#246; ö &ouml; ö o umlaut
149 242 &#242; ò &ograve; ò o grave
150 251 &#251; û &ucirc; û u circumflex
151 249 &#249; ù &ugrave; ù u grave
152 255 &#255; ÿ &yuml; ÿ y diaeresis
153 214 &#214; Ö &Ouml; Ö O umlaut
154 220 &#220; Ü &Uuml; Ü U umlaut
155 162 &#162; ¢ &cent; ¢ cent sign
156 163 &#163; £ &pound; £ pound sign
157 165 &#165; ¥ &yen; ¥ yen sign
160 225 &#225; á &aacute; á a acute
161 237 &#237; í &iacute; í i acute
162 243 &#243; ó &oacute; ó o acute
163 250 &#250; ú &uacute; ú u acute
164 241 &#241; ñ &ntilde; ñ n tilde
165 209 &#209; Ñ &Ntilde; Ñ N tilde
166 170 &#170; ª &ordf; ª raised a / feminine ordinal
167 186 &#186; º &ordm; º raised o / masculine ordinal
168 191 &#191; ¿ &iquest; ¿ inverted question mark
170 172 &#172; ¬ &not; ¬ logical 'not' sign
171 189 &#189; ½ &frac12; ½ 1/2 fraction
172 188 &#188; ¼ &frac14; ¼ 1/4 fraction
173 161 &#161; ¡ &iexcl; ¡ inverted exclamation mark
174 171 &#171; « &laquo; « left angle quote
175 187 &#187; » &raquo; » right angle quote
224 945 &#945; α &alpha; α alpha
225 946 &#946; β &beta; β beta (or German 'double s'?)
226 915 &#915; Γ &Gamma; Γ capital gamma
227 960 &#960; π &pi; π pi
228 931 &#931; Σ &Sigma; Σ capital sigma
229 963 &#963; σ &sigma; σ sigma
230 181 &#181; µ &micro; µ mu / 'micro' sign
231 964 &#964; τ &tau; τ tau
235 948 &#948; δ &delta; δ delta
241 177 &#177; ± &plusmn; ± 'plus or minus' sign
242 8805 &#8805; &ge; 'more than or equals' sign
243 8804 &#8804; &le; 'less than or equals' sign
246 247 &#247; ÷ &divide; ÷ division sign
248 176 &#176; ° &deg; ° degree symbol
250 183 &#183; · &middot; · raised dot / decimal point
251 8730 &#8730; &radic; square root / radical sign
253 178 &#178; ² &sup2; ² superscript 2

Notes:

1. There are often two ways of coding special characters for HTML. One uses the character's Windows/HTML number, while the other is descriptive and easier to remember. There are columns for both here, and also the characters themselves using each method. HTML(1) is used to produce Char.(1), and HTML(2) is used to produce Char.(2). Either should work, but older programs might not understand all of the characters in both forms. For example, Word 97 understands &#163; as a pound sign, but does not understand &pound;. You can open this page with different browsers or word processors to check them. There should be no problem with most programs unless they are old.

2. Characters numbered 32-126 are the same for DOS and Windows, and most of them are used unchanged for HTML and therefore need no conversion. However, a few of them are used by HTML as part of its coding, and therefore need conversion when intended as text. Convert these text characters first, so that they are converted only where they are part of your text and not in any HTML coding you subsequently apply.

3. Characters not included here are those numbered 176-223 (which are for graphics or drawing in DOS), most of the characters numbered 32-126 (which do not need conversion), and some others that do not appear to have equivalents. Very few, if any, of those not provided for are likely to be much used in databases. For a list of them see the sample database.

4. To get the DOS characters converted by M-Pro to their HTML equivalents, put a list of the conversions (such as £=&#163;) in the Tables section of a database. Then, within the format used for making a Web page, use the IFTLU and TLU commands to make the substitutions. Tables are provided in the sample database, and you can use M-Pro's clipboard (via F7) to copy them into your own database's Tables section.

5. If you want to use in a database some of the Windows characters which the standard DOS character set lacks, such as the copyright symbol or the Portuguese vowels with a tilde, you can do this by using substitutes and converting them to the appropriate HTML codes in the same way as for the characters shown in the table. For example, the copyright symbol © (obtained by using &copy; or &#169;) can be added to the table in your database if you need it. See the sample database for further details.

6. The DOS numbers, Windows numbers and HTML numbers used here are those very widely used, particularly in English-speaking countries. There are many other character sets used around the world for DOS, for Windows and even for Web pages, but for most purposes they are unlikely to be of any concern to most M-Pro users. The character encoding used for a Web page should really be stated within it. The character set ("charset") used here is ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1). If interested, consult the Internet for more about these things, including the Universal Character Set, Unicode and much besides.

7. This page was made using Masterfile Professional (M-Pro).