keyb(CMD) 19 June 1992 keyb(CMD) Name keyb - configure a keyboard for a specific language 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] Description Use keyb to configure a keyboard for a language other than United States English. Parameters xx Specifies the keyboard code. yyy Specifies the code page. [drive:][path]filename Specifies the location and name of the keyboard definition file. The default filename is KEYBOARD.SYS. [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 com- puter. /id:nnn Specifies the keyboard in use. This switch is necessary only for countries that have more than one keyboard layout for the same language (France, Italy, and the United Kingdom). Notes Values for xx, yy, and nnn The following table shows the valid values for xx, yyy, and nnn for each country or language: _________________________________________________________________________ Country or language Keyboard Code page Keyboard identifi- code (xx (yyy cation (nnn value) value) value) _________________________________________________________________________ Belgium be 850, 437 Brazil br 850, 437 Canadian-French cf 850, 863 Czechoslovakia (Czech) cz 852, 850 Czechoslovakia (Slovak) sl 852, 850 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 (French) sf 850, 437 Switzerland (German) sg 850, 437 United Kingdom uk 850, 437 166, 168 United States us 850, 437 Yugoslavia yu 852, 850 Installing code pages The code page you specify for yyy must be installed on your system. Displaying the current keyboard code and code page If you use the keyb command with no parameters or switches, MS-DOS lists the current keyboard code, the current keyboard's related code page, and the current code page used by your console (CON). The information is dis- played in the following format: Current keyboard code: FR code page: 437 Current CON code page: 437 Switching between keyb settings You can switch from the current keyb keyboard configuration to the default keyboard configuration at any time by pressing CtrlAltF1. To return to the memory-resident keyboard configuration, press CtrlAltF2. You can switch to ``typewriter mode,'' the standard for some countries, by pressing CtrlAltF7. Implementing keyb The following list shows the three different ways that you can start the keyb program: + Type keyb at the command prompt. + Include an install command for KEYB.COM in your CONFIG.SYS file. + Include the appropriate keyb command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. keyb exit codes The following list shows each exit code and a brief description of its meaning: 0 Keyboard definition file was loaded successfully. 1 Invalid keyboard code, code page, or syntax was used. 2 Keyboard definition file is bad or missing. 4 An error occurred while communicating with the CON device. 5 The requested code page has not been prepared. You can use the errorlevel parameter on the if command line in a batch program to process exit codes returned by keyb. For an example of a batch program that processes exit codes, see the diskcomp command. Example If you want to use a German keyboard and your KEYBOARD.SYS file is in the DOS directory on drive C, type the following command: keyb gr,,c:\dos\keyboard.sys Related command For information about using active and prepared code pages, see the chcp command.