Important Notice
The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software,
purely for historical purposes.
If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming,
you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully
out of date.
KEYB
◄Notes► ◄Example►
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEYB
Starts the Keyb program, which configures a keyboard for a specific
language.
Use Keyb to configure a keyboard for a language other than United States
English. For an introduction to the Keyb program, see the chapter
"Customizing for International Use" in the MS-DOS User's Guide.
Syntax
At the command prompt, use the following syntax:
KEYB [xx[,[yyy][,[drive:][path]filename]]] [/E] [/ID:nnn]
In your CONFIG.SYS file, use the following syntax:
INSTALL=[[dos-drive:]dos-path]KEYB.COM
[xx[,[yyy][,[drive:][path]filename]]] [/E] [/ID:nnn]
Parameters
xx
Specifies the code for a keyboard layout. See the table at the end of
this topic for a list of valid values for this parameter.
yyy
Specifies the character set (code page). See the table at the end of
this topic for a list of valid values for this parameter. If this value
is not specified, KEYB uses the current character set.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies the location and name of the keyboard definition file. The
default filename is KEYBOARD.SYS. If KEYBOARD.SYS is in a directory
included in the path, you do not have to specify these parameters.
(MS-DOS 6.22 includes two keyboard definition files: KEYBOARD.SYS, the
default file, and KEYBRD2.SYS, which provides support for keyboards not
included in KEYBOARD.SYS. For information about using KEYBRD2.SYS, see
the COUNTRY.TXT file.)
[dos-drive:]dos-path
Specifies the location of the KEYB.COM file.
Switches
/E
Specifies that an enhanced keyboard is installed. Use this switch if you
are using an enhanced keyboard with an 8086 computer.
/ID:nnn
Specifies the keyboard in use. This switch is valid only for countries
that have more than one keyboard layout for the same language (France,
Italy, and the United Kingdom). See the following table for a list of
valid values for nnn.
Values for xx, yyy, and nnn
The following table shows the valid values for xx, yyy, and nnn for each
country or language supported by KEYBOARD.SYS:
Country or Keyboard layout Character set Keyboard
language (xx value) (yyy value) identification
(ID:nnn value)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Belgium be 850, 437
Brazil br 850, 437
Canadian-French cf 850, 863
Czechoslovakia cz 852, 850
(Czech)
Czechoslovakia sl 852, 850
(Slovak)
Denmark dk 850, 865
Finland su 850, 437
France fr 850, 437 120, 189
Germany gr 850, 437
Hungary hu 852, 850
Italy it 850, 437 141, 142
Latin America la 850, 437
Netherlands nl 850, 437
Norway no 850, 865
Poland pl 852, 850
Portugal po 850, 860
Spain sp 850, 437
Sweden sv 850, 437
Switzerland sf 850, 437
(French)
Switzerland sg 850, 437
(German)
United Kingdom uk 850, 437 166, 168
United States us 850, 437
Yugoslavia yu 852, 850
This list includes only keyboards supported by the KEYBOARD.SYS file. For a
list of keyboards supported by the KEYBRD2.SYS file, see the COUNTRY.TXT
file.
Related Command
For information about using active and prepared character sets, see the
<CHCP> command.
♦