How to gain access to GRAFTABL and how to use it?

Question

While working on a CMD documentation extractor, it came to my attention that GRAFTABL is listed by HELP but "is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." This leads to two questions:

How can GRAFTABL be used, or is there a replacement?
How can documentation for the command be retrieved?

Reference:

A: Where to see all options for a windows command?
import os, subprocess; print('Pass' if all(code in {0, 1} for code in ((print(word), os.system(f'echo {word} >> complete_help.txt'), os.system(f'help {word} >> complete_help.txt'))[2] for word in (line.split(None, 1)[0] for line in subprocess.Popen('help', stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.read().decode('latin_1').splitlines() if line) if word.isalpha() and word.isupper())) else 'Fail')

I've just about to ask the same question – phuclv Aug 15 '18 at 09:15 — phuclv, Aug 15 '18 at 09:15

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

How can GRAFTABL be used, or is there a replacement?

The graftabl command allows the display to show extended characters in graphics mode from a specific code page. Most monitors do not need the graftabl command to be loaded.

The graftabl command is an external command and is available in the below Microsoft operating systems as graftabl.com.

MS-DOS 3.0 through MS-DOS 5.0

Windows 95

Windows 98

Windows ME

Windows NT

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Examples:
    graftabl 437
Loads graftabl for the United States.

Source MS-DOS graftabl command help

It also seem to be available on WindowsServer.

The functionality has been replaced by Chcp - Change Code Page - Windows CMD - SS64.com:

chcp 437

Thanks for noting that `CHCP` is a replacement! – Noctis Skytower Jul 25 '18 at 19:40 — Noctis Skytower, Jul 25 '18 at 19:40

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '18 at 19:28

1

You've discovered a bit of legacy code/data that hasn't been cleaned up. The command is no longer needed or appropriate, as CMD no longer distinguishes between "graphics mode" and "text mode"; that more-or-less ended with Windows 95, and was definitely no longer a thing in Windows XP.

answered Jul 25 '18 at 19:28

Jeff Zeitlin

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It was (is) still available in Windows XP as well as Windows Server. – DavidPostill Jul 25 '18 at 19:37
@DavidPostill - I seem to remember it not existing in Windows XP - although on reflection, it makes sense that it would still have it, to support legacy DOS program, which it did directly (without requiring a VM or DOSBox). – Jeff Zeitlin Jul 25 '18 at 19:42

How to gain access to GRAFTABL and how to use it?

2 Answers2

How can GRAFTABL be used, or is there a replacement?

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