This variable has meaning only on graphical systems such as Windows. You determine the font used for accepting and displaying data on screen by setting the configuration variable FONT to one of these values:
| 1 | Use the graphical font (default). The character set for this font is referred to as the "ANSI" set. |
| 2 | Use the "OEM" character set (MS-DOS font). |
This setting must be made in the configuration file before you execute the program. Altering the value of FONT from inside your program has no effect.
By default, data is stored on disk using the same character set that was used when the data was entered. Thus, if you use the graphical font to accept data, that data is stored in the ANSI character set. If you use the MS-DOS font, then data is stored in the OEM character set.
Data moved into a graphical environment from MS-DOS applications was originally stored in the OEM character set. What happens if you now choose the graphical font? As long as your application uses only standard ASCII characters, the underlying representation is the same, and so the data is completely interchangeable. See the variable TRANSLATE_TO_ANSI if you are using non-ASCII characters.