# Getting Windows to properly read DOS text

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 30, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182 "2003-03-30T06:24:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/1 "2003-03-30T06:24:42Z")

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Is there a way to get Windows based text editors to properly read DOS characters? For example, a line made of - characters in a DOS text editor becomes a line made up of Ä in a Windows text editor.

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**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/2 "2003-03-30T07:18:58Z")

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You need to change the font your editor is using. I tried _Lucidia Console_ in Notepad and it worked fine.

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/3 "2003-03-30T07:31:21Z")

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Thanks, I’ll give it a try.

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/4 "2003-03-30T08:55:34Z")

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Nope, switching fonts didn’t work. Oh well, no big deal. I’ll just keep looking this up on GOOGLE.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/5 "2003-03-30T13:03:04Z")

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Sometimes a font with “Terminal” in its name will correctly represent these characters even though many other fonts have the problem you’re describing. These characters are called “extended ASCII” or “8 bit ASCII” or “high ASCII” or, I think, “Latin 1” in some contexts.

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-windows-to-properly-read-dos-text/165182/6 "2003-03-30T17:40:13Z")

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Yeah, I know what they’re called. They’re the ASCII characters 128 - 255.  
Well, in Notepad the “Terminal” font works fine, but it’s not availible in Word or Wordpad. Guess I’ll have to see about adding it. Thanks.