Role of COUNTRY in MS-DOS 6.22 CONFIG.SYS

In MS-DOS 6.22, the COUNTRY configuration directive in the CONFIG.SYS file enables operating system localization by tailoring system-level conventions to specific geographic regions. It dictates fundamental formatting standards—such as date and time displays, currency representations, and decimal separators—while also establishing the character collation rules and case-conversion tables required for non-English languages.

The COUNTRY statement allows MS-DOS to support international environments without altering the core kernel. By default, MS-DOS 6.22 operates using United States conventions (Country Code 001). Implementing the COUNTRY command instructs the operating system to reference regional data tables, typically stored in the COUNTRY.SYS file, altering how standard commands and applications present and manipulate data.

Syntax and Parameters

The directive uses the following syntax:

COUNTRY=xxx[,[yyy][,[drive:][path]filename]]

  • xxx (Country Code): A required three-digit code corresponding to the international telephone country code (for example, 044 for the United Kingdom, 049 for Germany, or 033 for France).
  • yyy (Code Page): An optional three-digit parameter specifying the character set (code page) associated with the country, such as 437 (Standard United States) or 850 (Multilingual Latin I).
  • filename: The file path to the country information file, usually C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS. If omitted, DOS attempts to locate COUNTRY.SYS in the root directory of the startup drive.

Functional Changes Applied by the COUNTRY Directive

Once loaded, the COUNTRY command affects several core system behaviors:

  • Date and Time Formatting: Commands such as DATE, TIME, and DIR adapt their output according to regional standards. Depending on the code, dates appear as mm-dd-yy (US), dd/mm/yy (Europe), or yy-mm-dd (Japan/ISO), while time switches between 12-hour (with AM/PM indicators) and 24-hour formats.
  • Currency and Numeric Symbols: The system configures the default currency symbol, whether the symbol precedes or follows the numeric value, and whether spaces are included. It also sets the thousands separator and decimal separator (such as using a comma instead of a period for decimals in European locales).
  • Collating Sequences (Sorting): File sorting routines, like DIR /O:N or the SORT command, use the country table to properly sequence accented characters and special symbols unique to the specified language.
  • Case Mapping Tables: The setting provides translation tables that define how accented or special lowercase letters convert to uppercase in file names and terminal inputs.

Integration with Other Localization Commands

The COUNTRY directive specifically handles static regional conventions and collating sequences; it does not configure input devices or display hardware. Complete localization in MS-DOS 6.22 requires pairing COUNTRY with complementary tools:

  • KEYB.COM in AUTOEXEC.BAT to remap the physical keyboard layout.
  • DISPLAY.SYS in CONFIG.SYS and PRINTER.SYS to load font support for specified code pages on screens and printers.
  • NLSFUNC.EXE (National Language Support Function) to allow dynamic code page switching via the CHCP command.