@c This is part of the Emacs manual.@c Copyright (C) 1985,86,87,93,94,95,1997,2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.@c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.@node MS-DOS, Manifesto, Mac OS, Top@appendix Emacs and MS-DOS @cindex MS-DOG@cindex MS-DOS peculiarities This section briefly describes the peculiarities of using Emacs underthe MS-DOS ``operating system'' (also known as ``MS-DOG''). If youbuild Emacs for MS-DOS, the binary will also run on Windows 3.X, WindowsNT, Windows 9X, or OS/2 as a DOS application; the information in thischapter applies for all of those systems, if you use an Emacs that wasbuilt for MS-DOS. Note that it is possible to build Emacs specifically for Windows NT orWindows 9X. If you do that, most of this chapter does not apply;instead, you get behavior much closer to what is documented in the restof the manual, including support for long file names, multiple frames,scroll bars, mouse menus, and subprocesses. However, the section ontext files and binary files does still apply. There are also twosections at the end of this chapter which apply specifically for WindowsNT and 9X.@menu* Input: MS-DOS Input. Keyboard and mouse usage on MS-DOS.* Display: MS-DOS Display. Fonts, frames and display size on MS-DOS.* Files: MS-DOS File Names. File name conventions on MS-DOS.* Text and Binary:: Text files on MS-DOS use CRLF to separate lines.* Printing: MS-DOS Printing. How to specify the printer on MS-DOS.* I18N: MS-DOS and MULE. Support for internationalization on MS-DOS.* Processes: MS-DOS Processes. Running subprocesses on MS-DOS.* Windows Processes:: Running subprocesses on Windows.* Windows System Menu:: Controlling what the ALT key does.@end menu@node MS-DOS Input@section Keyboard and Mouse on MS-DOS@cindex Meta (under MS-DOS)@cindex Hyper (under MS-DOS)@cindex Super (under MS-DOS)@vindex dos-super-key@vindex dos-hyper-key The PC keyboard maps use the left @key{ALT} key as the @key{META} key.You have two choices for emulating the @key{SUPER} and @key{HYPER} keys:choose either the right @key{CTRL} key or the right @key{ALT} key bysetting the variables @code{dos-hyper-key} and @code{dos-super-key} to 1or 2 respectively. If neither @code{dos-super-key} nor@code{dos-hyper-key} is 1, then by default the right @key{ALT} key isalso mapped to the @key{META} key. However, if the MS-DOS internationalkeyboard support program @file{KEYB.COM} is installed, Emacs will@emph{not} map the right @key{ALT} to @key{META}, since it is used foraccessing characters like @kbd{~} and @kbd{@@} on non-US keyboardlayouts; in this case, you may only use the left @key{ALT} as @key{META}key.@kindex C-j @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex dos-keypad-mode The variable @code{dos-keypad-mode} is a flag variable that controlswhat key codes are returned by keys in the numeric keypad. You can alsodefine the keypad @key{ENTER} key to act like @kbd{C-j}, by putting thefollowing line into your @file{_emacs} file:@smallexample;; Make the Enter key from the Numeric keypad act as C-j.(define-key function-key-map [kp-enter] [?\C-j])@end smallexample@kindex DEL @r{(MS-DOS)}@kindex BS @r{(MS-DOS)} The key that is called @key{DEL} in Emacs (because that's how it isdesignated on most workstations) is known as @key{BS} (backspace) on aPC. That is why the PC-specific terminal initialization remaps the@key{BS} key to act as @key{DEL}; the @key{DEL} key is remapped to actas @kbd{C-d} for the same reasons.@kindex C-g @r{(MS-DOS)}@kindex C-BREAK @r{(MS-DOS)}@cindex quitting on MS-DOS Emacs built for MS-DOS recognizes @kbd{C-@key{BREAK}} as a quitcharacter, just like @kbd{C-g}. This is because Emacs cannot detectthat you have typed @kbd{C-g} until it is ready for more input. As aconsequence, you cannot use @kbd{C-g} to stop a running command(@pxref{Quitting}). By contrast, @kbd{C-@key{BREAK}} @emph{is} detectedas soon as you type it (as @kbd{C-g} is on other systems), so it can beused to stop a running command and for emergency escape(@pxref{Emergency Escape}).@cindex mouse support under MS-DOS Emacs on MS-DOS supports a mouse (on the default terminal only).The mouse commands work as documented, including those that use menusand the menu bar (@pxref{Menu Bar}). Scroll bars don't work inMS-DOS Emacs. PC mice usually have only two buttons; these act as@kbd{Mouse-1} and @kbd{Mouse-2}, but if you press both of themtogether, that has the effect of @kbd{Mouse-3}. If the mouse does have3 buttons, Emacs detects that at startup, and all the 3 buttons functionnormally, as on X. Help strings for menu-bar and pop-up menus are displayed in the echoarea when the mouse pointer moves across the menu items.Highlighting of mouse-sensitive text (@pxref{Mouse References}) is alsosupported.@cindex mouse, set number of buttons@findex msdos-set-mouse-buttons Some versions of mouse drivers don't report the number of mousebuttons correctly. For example, mice with a wheel report that theyhave 3 buttons, but only 2 of them are passed to Emacs; the clicks onthe wheel, which serves as the middle button, are not passed. Inthese cases, you can use the @kbd{M-x msdos-set-mouse-buttons} commandto tell Emacs how many mouse buttons to expect. You could make such asetting permanent by adding this fragment to your @file{_emacs} initfile:@example;; @r{Treat the mouse like a 2-button mouse.}(msdos-set-mouse-buttons 2)@end example@cindex Windows clipboard support Emacs built for MS-DOS supports clipboard operations when it runs onWindows. Commands that put text on the kill ring, or yank text from thering, check the Windows clipboard first, just as Emacs does on the XWindow System (@pxref{Mouse Commands}). Only the primary selection andthe cut buffer are supported by MS-DOS Emacs on Windows; the secondaryselection always appears as empty. Due to the way clipboard access is implemented by Windows, thelength of text you can put into the clipboard is limited by the amountof free DOS memory that is available to Emacs. Usually, up to 620KB oftext can be put into the clipboard, but this limit depends on the systemconfiguration and is lower if you run Emacs as a subprocess ofanother program. If the killed text does not fit, Emacs prints amessage saying so, and does not put the text into the clipboard. Null characters also cannot be put into the Windows clipboard. If thekilled text includes null characters, Emacs does not put such text intothe clipboard, and prints in the echo area a message to that effect.@vindex dos-display-scancodes The variable @code{dos-display-scancodes}, when non-@code{nil},directs Emacs to display the ASCII value and the keyboard scan code ofeach keystroke; this feature serves as a complement to the@code{view-lossage} command, for debugging.@node MS-DOS Display@section Display on MS-DOS@cindex faces under MS-DOS@cindex fonts, emulating under MS-DOS Display on MS-DOS cannot use font variants, like bold or italic,but it does supportmultiple faces, each of which can specify a foreground and a backgroundcolor. Therefore, you can get the full functionality of Emacs packagesthat use fonts (such as @code{font-lock}, Enriched Text mode, andothers) by defining the relevant faces to use different colors. Use the@code{list-colors-display} command (@pxref{Frame Parameters}) and the@code{list-faces-display} command (@pxref{Faces}) to see what colors andfaces are available and what they look like. The section @ref{MS-DOS and MULE}, later in this chapter, describeshow Emacs displays glyphs and characters which aren't supported by thenative font built into the DOS display.@cindex cursor shape on MS-DOS When Emacs starts, it changes the cursor shape to a solid box. Thisis for compatibility with other systems, where the box cursor is thedefault in Emacs. This default shape can be changed to a bar byspecifying the @code{cursor-type} parameter in the variable@code{default-frame-alist} (@pxref{Creating Frames}). The MS-DOSterminal doesn't support a vertical-bar cursor, so the bar cursor ishorizontal, and the @code{@var{width}} parameter, if specified by theframe parameters, actually determines its height. As an extension,the bar cursor specification can include the starting scan line of thecursor as well as its width, like this:@example '(cursor-type bar @var{width} . @var{start})@end example@noindentIn addition, if the @var{width} parameter is negative, the cursor barbegins at the top of the character cell.@cindex frames on MS-DOS The MS-DOS terminal can only display a single frame at a time. TheEmacs frame facilities work on MS-DOS much as they do on text-onlyterminals (@pxref{Frames}). When you run Emacs from a DOS window onMS-Windows, you can make the visible frame smaller than the fullscreen, but Emacs still cannot display more than a single frame at atime.@cindex frame size under MS-DOS@findex mode4350@findex mode25 The @code{mode4350} command switches the display to 43 or 50lines, depending on your hardware; the @code{mode25} command switchesto the default 80x25 screen size. By default, Emacs only knows how to set screen sizes of 80 columns by25, 28, 35, 40, 43 or 50 rows. However, if your video adapter hasspecial video modes that will switch the display to other sizes, you canhave Emacs support those too. When you ask Emacs to switch the frame to@var{n} rows by @var{m} columns dimensions, it checks if there is avariable called @code{screen-dimensions-@var{n}x@var{m}}, and if so,uses its value (which must be an integer) as the video mode to switchto. (Emacs switches to that video mode by calling the BIOS @code{SetVideo Mode} function with the value of@code{screen-dimensions-@var{n}x@var{m}} in the @code{AL} register.)For example, suppose your adapter will switch to 66x80 dimensions whenput into video mode 85. Then you can make Emacs support this screensize by putting the following into your @file{_emacs} file:@example(setq screen-dimensions-66x80 85)@end example Since Emacs on MS-DOS can only set the frame size to specificsupported dimensions, it cannot honor every possible frame resizingrequest. When an unsupported size is requested, Emacs chooses the nextlarger supported size beyond the specified size. For example, if youask for 36x80 frame, you will get 40x80 instead. The variables @code{screen-dimensions-@var{n}x@var{m}} are used onlywhen they exactly match the specified size; the search for the nextlarger supported size ignores them. In the above example, even if yourVGA supports 38x80 dimensions and you define a variable@code{screen-dimensions-38x80} with a suitable value, you will still get40x80 screen when you ask for a 36x80 frame. If you want to get the38x80 size in this case, you can do it by setting the variable named@code{screen-dimensions-36x80} with the same video mode value as@code{screen-dimensions-38x80}. Changing frame dimensions on MS-DOS has the effect of changing all theother frames to the new dimensions.@node MS-DOS File Names@section File Names on MS-DOS@cindex file names under MS-DOS@cindex init file, default name under MS-DOS MS-DOS normally uses a backslash, @samp{\}, to separate name unitswithin a file name, instead of the slash used on other systems. Emacson MS-DOS permits use of either slash or backslash, and also knowsabout drive letters in file names. On MS-DOS, file names are case-insensitive and limited to eightcharacters, plus optionally a period and three more characters. Emacsknows enough about these limitations to handle file names that weremeant for other operating systems. For instance, leading dots @samp{.}in file names are invalid in MS-DOS, so Emacs transparently convertsthem to underscores @samp{_}; thus your default init file (@pxref{InitFile}) is called @file{_emacs} on MS-DOS. Excess characters before orafter the period are generally ignored by MS-DOS itself; thus, if youvisit the file @file{LongFileName.EvenLongerExtension}, you willsilently get @file{longfile.eve}, but Emacs will still display the longfile name on the mode line. Other than that, it's up to you to specifyfile names which are valid under MS-DOS; the transparent conversion asdescribed above only works on file names built into Emacs.@cindex backup file names on MS-DOS The above restrictions on the file names on MS-DOS make it almostimpossible to construct the name of a backup file (@pxref{BackupNames}) without losing some of the original file name characters. Forexample, the name of a backup file for @file{docs.txt} is@file{docs.tx~} even if single backup is used.@cindex file names under Windows 95/NT@cindex long file names in DOS box under Windows 95/NT If you run Emacs as a DOS application under Windows 9X, you canturn on support for long file names. If you do that, Emacs doesn'ttruncate file names or convert them to lower case; instead, it uses thefile names that you specify, verbatim. To enable long file namesupport, set the environment variable @env{LFN} to @samp{y} beforestarting Emacs. Unfortunately, Windows NT doesn't allow DOS programs toaccess long file names, so Emacs built for MS-DOS will only see theirshort 8+3 aliases.@cindex @env{HOME} directory under MS-DOS MS-DOS has no notion of home directory, so Emacs on MS-DOS pretendsthat the directory where it is installed is the value of @env{HOME}environment variable. That is, if your Emacs binary,@file{emacs.exe}, is in the directory @file{c:/utils/emacs/bin}, thenEmacs acts as if @env{HOME} were set to @samp{c:/utils/emacs}. Inparticular, that is where Emacs looks for the init file @file{_emacs}.With this in mind, you can use @samp{~} in file names as an alias forthe home directory, as you would on GNU or Unix. You can also set@env{HOME} variable in the environment before starting Emacs; itsvalue will then override the above default behavior. Emacs on MS-DOS handles the directory name @file{/dev} specially,because of a feature in the emulator libraries of DJGPP that pretendsI/O devices have names in that directory. We recommend that you avoidusing an actual directory named @file{/dev} on any disk.@node Text and Binary@section Text Files and Binary Files@cindex text and binary files on MS-DOS/MS-Windows GNU Emacs uses newline characters to separate text lines. This is theconvention used on GNU and Unix.@cindex end-of-line conversion on MS-DOS/MS-Windows MS-DOS and MS-Windows normally use carriage-return linefeed, atwo-character sequence, to separate text lines. (Linefeed is the samecharacter as newline.) Therefore, convenient editing of typical fileswith Emacs requires conversion of these end-of-line (EOL) sequences.And that is what Emacs normally does: it converts carriage-returnlinefeed into newline when reading files, and converts newline intocarriage-return linefeed when writing files. The same mechanism thathandles conversion of international character codes does this conversionalso (@pxref{Coding Systems}).@cindex cursor location, on MS-DOS@cindex point location, on MS-DOS One consequence of this special format-conversion of most files isthat character positions as reported by Emacs (@pxref{Position Info}) donot agree with the file size information known to the operating system. In addition, if Emacs recognizes from a file's contents that it usesnewline rather than carriage-return linefeed as its line separator, itdoes not perform EOL conversion when reading or writing that file.Thus, you can read and edit files from GNU and Unix systems on MS-DOSwith no special effort, and they will retain their Unix-styleend-of-line convention after you edit them. The mode line indicates whether end-of-line translation was used forthe current buffer. If MS-DOS end-of-line translation is in use for thebuffer, a backslash @samp{\} is displayed after the coding systemmnemonic near the beginning of the mode line (@pxref{Mode Line}). If noEOL translation was performed, the string @samp{(Unix)} is displayedinstead of the backslash, to alert you that the file's EOL format is notthe usual carriage-return linefeed.@cindex DOS-to-Unix conversion of files To visit a file and specify whether it uses DOS-style or Unix-styleend-of-line, specify a coding system (@pxref{Specify Coding}). Forexample, @kbd{C-x @key{RET} c unix @key{RET} C-x C-f foobar.txt}visits the file @file{foobar.txt} without converting the EOLs; if someline ends with a carriage-return linefeed pair, Emacs will display@samp{^M} at the end of that line. Similarly, you can direct Emacs tosave a buffer in a specified EOL format with the @kbd{C-x @key{RET} f}command. For example, to save a buffer with Unix EOL format, type@kbd{C-x @key{RET} f unix @key{RET} C-x C-s}. If you visit a filewith DOS EOL conversion, then save it with Unix EOL format, thateffectively converts the file to Unix EOL style, like @code{dos2unix}.@cindex untranslated file system@findex add-untranslated-filesystem When you use NFS or Samba to access file systems that reside oncomputers using GNU or Unix systems, Emacs should not performend-of-line translation on any files in these file systems--not evenwhen you create a new file. To request this, designate these filesystems as @dfn{untranslated} file systems by calling the function@code{add-untranslated-filesystem}. It takes one argument: the filesystem name, including a drive letter and optionally a directory. Forexample,@example(add-untranslated-filesystem "Z:")@end example@noindentdesignates drive Z as an untranslated file system, and@example(add-untranslated-filesystem "Z:\\foo")@end example@noindentdesignates directory @file{\foo} on drive Z as an untranslated filesystem. Most often you would use @code{add-untranslated-filesystem} in your@file{_emacs} file, or in @file{site-start.el} so that all the users atyour site get the benefit of it.@findex remove-untranslated-filesystem To countermand the effect of @code{add-untranslated-filesystem}, usethe function @code{remove-untranslated-filesystem}. This function takesone argument, which should be a string just like the one that was usedpreviously with @code{add-untranslated-filesystem}. Designating a file system as untranslated does not affect characterset conversion, only end-of-line conversion. Essentially, it directsEmacs to create new files with the Unix-style convention of usingnewline at the end of a line. @xref{Coding Systems}.@vindex file-name-buffer-file-type-alist@cindex binary files, on MS-DOS/MS-Windows Some kinds of files should not be converted at all, because theircontents are not really text. Therefore, Emacs on MS-DOS distinguishescertain files as @dfn{binary files}. (This distinction is not part ofMS-DOS; it is made by Emacs only.) Binary files include executableprograms, compressed archives, etc. Emacs uses the file name to decidewhether to treat a file as binary: the variable@code{file-name-buffer-file-type-alist} defines the file-name patternsthat indicate binary files. If a file name matches one of the patternsfor binary files (those whose associations are of the type@code{(@var{pattern} . t)}, Emacs reads and writes that file using the@code{no-conversion} coding system (@pxref{Coding Systems}) which turnsoff @emph{all} coding-system conversions, not only the EOL conversion.@code{file-name-buffer-file-type-alist} also includes file-name patternsfor files which are known to be DOS-style text files withcarriage-return linefeed EOL format, such as @file{CONFIG.SYS}; Emacsalways writes those files with DOS-style EOLs. If a file which belongs to an untranslated file system matches one ofthe file-name patterns in @code{file-name-buffer-file-type-alist}, theEOL conversion is determined by @code{file-name-buffer-file-type-alist}.@node MS-DOS Printing@section Printing and MS-DOS Printing commands, such as @code{lpr-buffer} (@pxref{Hardcopy}) and@code{ps-print-buffer} (@pxref{PostScript}) can work in MS-DOS andMS-Windows by sending the output to one of the printer ports, if aUnix-style @code{lpr} program is unavailable. The same Emacsvariables control printing on all systems (@pxref{Hardcopy}), but insome cases they have different default values on MS-DOS andMS-Windows.@vindex printer-name @r{(MS-DOS)} If you want to use your local printer, printing on it in the usual DOSmanner, then set the Lisp variable @code{lpr-command} to @code{""} (itsdefault value) and @code{printer-name} to the name of the printerport---for example, @code{"PRN"}, the usual local printer port (that'sthe default), or @code{"LPT2"}, or @code{"COM1"} for a serial printer.You can also set @code{printer-name} to a file name, in which case``printed'' output is actually appended to that file. If you set@code{printer-name} to @code{"NUL"}, printed output is silentlydiscarded (sent to the system null device). On MS-Windows, when the Windows network software is installed, you canalso use a printer shared by another machine by setting@code{printer-name} to the UNC share name for that printer--for example,@code{"//joes_pc/hp4si"}. (It doesn't matter whether you use forwardslashes or backslashes here.) To find out the names of shared printers,run the command @samp{net view} at a DOS command prompt to obtain a listof servers, and @samp{net view @var{server-name}} to see the names of printers(and directories) shared by that server. Alternatively, click the@samp{Network Neighborhood} icon on your desktop, and look for machineswhich share their printers via the network.@cindex @samp{net use}, and printing on MS-Windows@cindex networked printers (MS-Windows) If the printer doesn't appear in the output of @samp{net view}, orif setting @code{printer-name} to the UNC share name doesn't produce ahardcopy on that printer, you can use the @samp{net use} command toconnect a local print port such as @code{"LPT2"} to the networkedprinter. For example, typing @kbd{net use LPT2:\\joes_pc\hp4si}@footnote{Note that the @samp{net use} command requires the UNC share name to betyped with the Windows-style backslashes, while the value of@code{printer-name} can be set with either forward- or backslashes.}causes Windows to @dfn{capture} the LPT2 port and redirect the printedmaterial to the printer connected to the machine @code{joes_pc}.After this command, setting @code{printer-name} to @code{"LPT2"}should produce the hardcopy on the networked printer. Some printers expect DOS codepage encoding of non-ASCII text, eventhough they are connected to a Windows machine which uses a differentencoding for the same locale. For example, in the Latin-1 locale, DOSuses codepage 850 whereas Windows uses codepage 1252. @xref{MS-DOS andMULE}. When you print to such printers from Windows, you can use the@kbd{C-x RET c} (@code{universal-coding-system-argument}) command before@kbd{M-x lpr-buffer}; Emacs will then convert the text to the DOScodepage that you specify. For example, @kbd{C-x RET c cp850-dos RETM-x lpr-region RET} will print the region while converting it to thecodepage 850 encoding. You may need to create the @code{cp@var{nnn}}coding system with @kbd{M-x codepage-setup}. If you set @code{printer-name} to a file name, it's best to use anabsolute file name. Emacs changes the working directory according tothe default directory of the current buffer, so if the file name in@code{printer-name} is relative, you will end up with several suchfiles, each one in the directory of the buffer from which the printingwas done.@findex print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}@findex print-region @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex lpr-headers-switches @r{(MS-DOS)} The commands @code{print-buffer} and @code{print-region} call the@code{pr} program, or use special switches to the @code{lpr} program, toproduce headers on each printed page. MS-DOS and MS-Windows don'tnormally have these programs, so by default, the variable@code{lpr-headers-switches} is set so that the requests to print pageheaders are silently ignored. Thus, @code{print-buffer} and@code{print-region} produce the same output as @code{lpr-buffer} and@code{lpr-region}, respectively. If you do have a suitable @code{pr}program (for example, from GNU Textutils), set@code{lpr-headers-switches} to @code{nil}; Emacs will then call@code{pr} to produce the page headers, and print the resulting output asspecified by @code{printer-name}.@vindex print-region-function @r{(MS-DOS)}@cindex lpr usage under MS-DOS@vindex lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)} Finally, if you do have an @code{lpr} work-alike, you can set thevariable @code{lpr-command} to @code{"lpr"}. Then Emacs will use@code{lpr} for printing, as on other systems. (If the name of theprogram isn't @code{lpr}, set @code{lpr-command} to specify where tofind it.) The variable @code{lpr-switches} has its standard meaningwhen @code{lpr-command} is not @code{""}. If the variable@code{printer-name} has a string value, it is used as the value for the@code{-P} option to @code{lpr}, as on Unix.@findex ps-print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}@findex ps-spool-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex ps-printer-name @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex ps-lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}@vindex ps-lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)} A parallel set of variables, @code{ps-lpr-command},@code{ps-lpr-switches}, and @code{ps-printer-name} (@pxref{PostScriptVariables}), defines how PostScript files should be printed. Thesevariables are used in the same way as the corresponding variablesdescribed above for non-PostScript printing. Thus, the value of@code{ps-printer-name} is used as the name of the device (or file) towhich PostScript output is sent, just as @code{printer-name} is used fornon-PostScript printing. (There are two distinct sets of variables incase you have two printers attached to two different ports, and only oneof them is a PostScript printer.) The default value of the variable @code{ps-lpr-command} is @code{""},which causes PostScript output to be sent to the printer port specifiedby @code{ps-printer-name}, but @code{ps-lpr-command} can also be set tothe name of a program which will accept PostScript files. Thus, if youhave a non-PostScript printer, you can set this variable to the name ofa PostScript interpreter program (such as Ghostscript). Any switchesthat need to be passed to the interpreter program are specified using@code{ps-lpr-switches}. (If the value of @code{ps-printer-name} is astring, it will be added to the list of switches as the value for the@code{-P} option. This is probably only useful if you are using@code{lpr}, so when using an interpreter typically you would set@code{ps-printer-name} to something other than a string so it isignored.) For example, to use Ghostscript for printing on an Epson printerconnected to the @samp{LPT2} port, put this in your @file{_emacs} file:@example(setq ps-printer-name t) ; Ghostscript doesn't understand -P(setq ps-lpr-command "c:/gs/gs386")(setq ps-lpr-switches '("-q" "-dNOPAUSE" "-sDEVICE=epson" "-r240x72" "-sOutputFile=LPT2" "-Ic:/gs"))@end example@noindent(This assumes that Ghostscript is installed in the @file{"c:/gs"}directory.)@vindex dos-printer@vindex dos-ps-printer For backwards compatibility, the value of @code{dos-printer}(@code{dos-ps-printer}), if it has a value, overrides the value of@code{printer-name} (@code{ps-printer-name}), on MS-DOS and MS-Windowsonly.@node MS-DOS and MULE@section International Support on MS-DOS@cindex international support @r{(MS-DOS)} Emacs on MS-DOS supports the same international character sets as itdoes on Unix and other platforms (@pxref{International}), includingcoding systems for converting between the different character sets.However, due to incompatibilities between MS-DOS/MS-Windows and Unix,there are several DOS-specific aspects of this support that users shouldbe aware of. This section describes these aspects.@table @kbd@item M-x dos-codepage-setupSet up Emacs display and coding systems as appropriate for the currentDOS codepage.@item M-x codepage-setupCreate a coding system for a certain DOS codepage.@end table@cindex codepage, MS-DOS@cindex DOS codepages MS-DOS is designed to support one character set of 256 characters atany given time, but gives you a variety of character sets to choosefrom. The alternative character sets are known as @dfn{DOS codepages}.Each codepage includes all 128 ASCII characters, but the other 128characters (codes 128 through 255) vary from one codepage to another.Each DOS codepage is identified by a 3-digit number, such as 850, 862,etc. In contrast to X, which lets you use several fonts at the same time,MS-DOS normally doesn't allow use of several codepages in a singlesession. MS-DOS was designed to load a single codepage at systemstartup, and require you to reboot in order to changeit@footnote{Normally, one particular codepage is burnt into the displaymemory, while other codepages can be installed by modifying systemconfiguration files, such as @file{CONFIG.SYS}, and rebooting. Whilethird-party software is known to exist that allows to change thecodepage without rebooting, we describe here how a stock MS-DOS systembehaves.}. Much the same limitation applies when you run DOSexecutables on other systems such as MS-Windows.@cindex unibyte operation @r{(MS-DOS)} If you invoke Emacs on MS-DOS with the @samp{--unibyte} option(@pxref{Initial Options}), Emacs does not perform any conversion ofnon-ASCII characters. Instead, it reads and writes any non-ASCIIcharacters verbatim, and sends their 8-bit codes to the displayverbatim. Thus, unibyte Emacs on MS-DOS supports the current codepage,whatever it may be, but cannot even represent any other characters.@vindex dos-codepage For multibyte operation on MS-DOS, Emacs needs to know whichcharacters the chosen DOS codepage can display. So it queries thesystem shortly after startup to get the chosen codepage number, andstores the number in the variable @code{dos-codepage}. Some systemsreturn the default value 437 for the current codepage, even though theactual codepage is different. (This typically happens when you use thecodepage built into the display hardware.) You can specify a differentcodepage for Emacs to use by setting the variable @code{dos-codepage} inyour init file.@cindex language environment, automatic selection on @r{MS-DOS} Multibyte Emacs supports only certain DOS codepages: those which candisplay Far-Eastern scripts, like the Japanese codepage 932, and thosethat encode a single ISO 8859 character set. The Far-Eastern codepages can directly display one of the MULEcharacter sets for these countries, so Emacs simply sets up to use theappropriate terminal coding system that is supported by the codepage.The special features described in the rest of this section mostlypertain to codepages that encode ISO 8859 character sets. For the codepages which correspond to one of the ISO character sets,Emacs knows the character set name based on the codepage number. Emacsautomatically creates a coding system to support reading and writingfiles that use the current codepage, and uses this coding system bydefault. The name of this coding system is @code{cp@var{nnn}}, where@var{nnn} is the codepage number.@footnote{The standard Emacs codingsystems for ISO 8859 are not quite right for the purpose, becausetypically the DOS codepage does not match the standard ISO charactercodes. For example, the letter @samp{@,{c}} (@samp{c} with cedilla) hascode 231 in the standard Latin-1 character set, but the correspondingDOS codepage 850 uses code 135 for this glyph.}@cindex mode line @r{(MS-DOS)} All the @code{cp@var{nnn}} coding systems use the letter @samp{D} (for``DOS'') as their mode-line mnemonic. Since both the terminal codingsystem and the default coding system for file I/O are set to the proper@code{cp@var{nnn}} coding system at startup, it is normal for the modeline on MS-DOS to begin with @samp{-DD\-}. @xref{Mode Line}.Far-Eastern DOS terminals do not use the @code{cp@var{nnn}} codingsystems, and thus their initial mode line looks like on Unix. Since the codepage number also indicates which script you are using,Emacs automatically runs @code{set-language-environment} to select thelanguage environment for that script (@pxref{Language Environments}). If a buffer contains a character belonging to some other ISO 8859character set, not the one that the chosen DOS codepage supports, Emacsdisplays it using a sequence of ASCII characters. For example, if thecurrent codepage doesn't have a glyph for the letter @samp{@`o} (small@samp{o} with a grave accent), it is displayed as @samp{@{`o@}}, wherethe braces serve as a visual indication that this is a single character.(This may look awkward for some non-Latin characters, such as those fromGreek or Hebrew alphabets, but it is still readable by a person whoknows the language.) Even though the character may occupy severalcolumns on the screen, it is really still just a single character, andall Emacs commands treat it as one.@cindex IBM graphics characters (MS-DOS)@cindex box-drawing characters (MS-DOS)@cindex line-drawing characters (MS-DOS) Not all characters in DOS codepages correspond to ISO 8859characters---some are used for other purposes, such as box-drawingcharacters and other graphics. Emacs maps these characters to twospecial character sets called @code{eight-bit-control} and@code{eight-bit-graphic}, and displays them as their IBM glyphs.However, you should be aware that other systems might display thesecharacters differently, so you should avoid them in text that might becopied to a different operating system, or even to another DOS machinethat uses a different codepage.@vindex dos-unsupported-character-glyph Emacs supports many other characters sets aside from ISO 8859, but itcannot display them on MS-DOS. So if one of these multibyte charactersappears in a buffer, Emacs on MS-DOS displays them as specified by the@code{dos-unsupported-character-glyph} variable; by default, this glyphis an empty triangle. Use the @kbd{C-u C-x =} command to display theactual code and character set of such characters. @xref{Position Info}.@findex codepage-setup By default, Emacs defines a coding system to support the currentcodepage. To define a coding system for some other codepage (e.g., tovisit a file written on a DOS machine in another country), use the@kbd{M-x codepage-setup} command. It prompts for the 3-digit code ofthe codepage, with completion, then creates the coding system for thespecified codepage. You can then use the new coding system to read andwrite files, but you must specify it explicitly for the file commandwhen you want to use it (@pxref{Specify Coding}). These coding systems are also useful for visiting a file encoded usinga DOS codepage, using Emacs running on some other operating system.@cindex MS-Windows codepages MS-Windows provides its own codepages, which are different from theDOS codepages for the same locale. For example, DOS codepage 850supports the same character set as Windows codepage 1252; DOS codepage855 supports the same character set as Windows codepage 1251, etc.The MS-Windows version of Emacs uses the current codepage for displaywhen invoked with the @samp{-nw} option.@node MS-DOS Processes@section Subprocesses on MS-DOS@cindex compilation under MS-DOS@cindex inferior processes under MS-DOS@findex compile @r{(MS-DOS)}@findex grep @r{(MS-DOS)} Because MS-DOS is a single-process ``operating system,''asynchronous subprocesses are not available. In particular, Shellmode and its variants do not work. Most Emacs features that useasynchronous subprocesses also don't work on MS-DOS, includingShell mode and GUD. When in doubt, try and see; commands thatdon't work print an error message saying that asynchronous processesaren't supported. Compilation under Emacs with @kbd{M-x compile}, searching files with@kbd{M-x grep} and displaying differences between files with @kbd{M-xdiff} do work, by running the inferior processes synchronously. Thismeans you cannot do any more editing until the inferior processfinishes. Spell checking also works, by means of special support for synchronousinvocation of the @code{ispell} program. This is slower than theasynchronous invocation on Unix. Instead of the Shell mode, which doesn't work on MS-DOS, you can usethe @kbd{M-x eshell} command. This invokes the Eshell package thatimplements a Unix-like shell entirely in Emacs Lisp. By contrast, Emacs compiled as native Windows application@strong{does} support asynchronous subprocesses. @xref{WindowsProcesses}.@cindex printing under MS-DOS Printing commands, such as @code{lpr-buffer} (@pxref{Hardcopy}) and@code{ps-print-buffer} (@pxref{PostScript}), work in MS-DOS by sendingthe output to one of the printer ports. @xref{MS-DOS Printing}. When you run a subprocess synchronously on MS-DOS, make sure theprogram terminates and does not try to read keyboard input. If theprogram does not terminate on its own, you will be unable to terminateit, because MS-DOS provides no general way to terminate a process.Pressing @kbd{C-c} or @kbd{C-@key{BREAK}} might sometimes help in thesecases. Accessing files on other machines is not supported on MS-DOS. Othernetwork-oriented commands such as sending mail, Web browsing, remotelogin, etc., don't work either, unless network access is built intoMS-DOS with some network redirector.@cindex directory listing on MS-DOS@vindex dired-listing-switches @r{(MS-DOS)} Dired on MS-DOS uses the @code{ls-lisp} package where otherplatforms use the system @code{ls} command. Therefore, Dired onMS-DOS supports only some of the possible options you can mention inthe @code{dired-listing-switches} variable. The options that work are@samp{-A}, @samp{-a}, @samp{-c}, @samp{-i}, @samp{-r}, @samp{-S},@samp{-s}, @samp{-t}, and @samp{-u}.@node Windows Processes@section Subprocesses on Windows 95 and NTEmacs compiled as a native Windows application (as opposed to the DOSversion) includes full support for asynchronous subprocesses.In the Windows version, synchronous and asynchronous subprocesses workfine on bothWindows 95 and Windows NT as long as you run only 32-bit Windowsapplications. However, when you run a DOS application in a subprocess,you may encounter problems or be unable to run the application at all;and if you run two DOS applications at the same time in twosubprocesses, you may have to reboot your system.Since the standard command interpreter (and most command line utilities)on Windows 95 are DOS applications, these problems are significant whenusing that system. But there's nothing we can do about them; onlyMicrosoft can fix them.If you run just one DOS application subprocess, the subprocess shouldwork as expected as long as it is ``well-behaved'' and does not performdirect screen access or other unusual actions. If you have a CPUmonitor application, your machine will appear to be 100% busy even whenthe DOS application is idle, but this is only an artifact of the way CPUmonitors measure processor load.You must terminate the DOS application before you start any other DOSapplication in a different subprocess. Emacs is unable to interrupt orterminate a DOS subprocess. The only way you can terminate such asubprocess is by giving it a command that tells its program to exit.If you attempt to run two DOS applications at the same time in separatesubprocesses, the second one that is started will be suspended until thefirst one finishes, even if either or both of them are asynchronous.If you can go to the first subprocess, and tell it to exit, the secondsubprocess should continue normally. However, if the second subprocessis synchronous, Emacs itself will be hung until the first subprocessfinishes. If it will not finish without user input, then you have nochoice but to reboot if you are running on Windows 95. If you arerunning on Windows NT, you can use a process viewer application to killthe appropriate instance of ntvdm instead (this will terminate both DOSsubprocesses).If you have to reboot Windows 95 in this situation, do not use the@code{Shutdown} command on the @code{Start} menu; that usually hangs thesystem. Instead, type @kbd{CTL-ALT-@key{DEL}} and then choose@code{Shutdown}. That usually works, although it may take a few minutesto do its job.@node Windows System Menu@section Using the System Menu on WindowsEmacs compiled as a native Windows application normally turns off theWindows feature that tapping the @key{ALT}key invokes the Windows menu. The reason is that the @key{ALT} alsoserves as @key{META} in Emacs. When using Emacs, users often press the@key{META} key temporarily and then change their minds; if this has theeffect of bringing up the Windows menu, it alters the meaning ofsubsequent commands. Many users find this frustrating. @vindex w32-pass-alt-to-systemYou can reenable Windows's default handling of tapping the @key{ALT} keyby setting @code{w32-pass-alt-to-system} to a non-@code{nil} value.