FIX: ASCII Character 141 Not Read by FGETS()

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

The FGETS() command will not return ASCII character 141 (an "i" with an accent grave) when it sees this character in a file. Instead FGETS() returns a NULL character. This problem occurs no matter what code page is being used.

CAUSE

ASCII character 141 is recognized as a "soft" return by many other software products. To remain compatible with these products, FoxPro also recognizes this character as a soft return, and thus cannot read this character literally.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in FoxPro 2.0 for MS-DOS. This problem was corrected in FoxPro 2.5 for MS-DOS.

NOTE: In FoxPro 2.5 for Windows, CHR(141) does not necessarily return an "i" with an accent grave. The character returned is dependent upon the font being used.

MORE INFORMATION

The following code segment illustrates this problem:

   SET TALK OFF
   STUFF="ASCII character 141 is a ("+chr(141)+") which is printable"
   *
   * Character 141 will be displayed here
   *
   WAIT WINDOW STUFF
   CHRSTUFF=FCREATE('CHR141.TXT')
   FOR I=140 TO 150
   STUFF="ascii # "+STR(I)+" is ("+CHR(I)+")"
   =FPUTS(CHRSTUFF,STUFF)
   NEXT I
   =FCLOSE(CHRSTUFF)
   WAIT WINDOW "CHR141.TXT has been written to"
   CHRSTUFF=FOPEN('CHR141.TXT',0)
   *
   * Character 141 cannot be seen here
   *
   FOR I=140 TO 150
      STUFF=FGETS(CHRSTUFF)
      WAIT WINDOW STUFF
   NEXT I
   =FCLOSE(CHRSTUFF)
   WAIT WINDOW "CHR141.TXT has been created and closed" NOWAIT
   SET TALK ON