Windows – What does the output from CTRL+N in Windows Command Prompt mean

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In the Microsoft Windows Command Prompt (Win7), what does the command Ctrl+N do?

I get the following output:

C:\Users\pbarney>^N
'' ␋_ ┼¯├ _␊␌¯±┼␋≥␊␍ ▒_ ▒┼ ␋┼├␊_┼▒┌ ¯_ ␊│├␊_┼▒┌ ␌¯└└▒┼␍,
¯▬␊_▒␉┌␊ ▬_¯±_▒└ ¯_ ␉▒├␌␤ °␋┌␊.

I recognize that the preceding line is similar in length to the following message when you type an invalid command:

'a' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I'm curious why it does this.

Best Answer

The ASCII standard has two code points, SHIFT OUT and SHIFT IN that switch between two different modes.

Historically, these were black and red typewriter ribbon. The instance you see is a VT100 compatible terminal emulator, which uses these to switch between regular text and line drawing characters. This is a simple data compression standard, in which bit 7 of each character is set from the current shift state rather than transferred, which gives a slight speed boost over a serial link.

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