Other computer systems than DOS/Windows-based PCs use different characters to mark a line ending. When opening such files in Notpad, text is automatically converted to Windows text format.
Converting may be necessary if files are to be used on a computer other than a Windows-based PC, or on a DOS-based PC.
Opening a DOS format file
When opening text files that were created by a DOS-based program in a Windows program, some characters may appear 'wrong'.
To convert DOS text to Windows text,
1 Hit Ctrl+O or choose Open from the File Menu
2 Check the OEM translation checkbox
3 Hit ¿ or click OK
Saving a DOS format file
1 Hit Ctrl+O or choose Open from the File Menu to open the file to be converted
2 Hit F12 or choose Save as... from the File Menu
3 Click on the Format list box at the bottom of the dialog
4 Choose the format PC to save in
5 Choose OEM translation
6 Hit ¿ or click OK
Converting a file for other computer systems
1 Hit Ctrl+O or choose Open from the File Menu to open the file to be converted
2 Hit F12 or choose Save as... from the File Menu
3 Click on the Format list box at the bottom of the dialog
4 Choose the format (see above) to save in
5 Make sure that OEM translation is not checked
6 Hit ¿ or click OK
A Computer system not listed in the format list box probably uses the same control codes as a listed one. Here is list of the line ending characters:
This system | uses | ASCII Code |
DOS/Windows, Atari | CR + LF | 13 + 10 |
UNIX, Amiga, NeXT, BeBox | LF | 10 |
Macintosh | CR | 13 |
Note
When
converting text for a different computer system it may be
necessary to also convert the ASCII character mapping (change the
character set). Since Notpad handles only control codes for line
endings you will need a special conversion program to do that.