Old Dutch bookkeeping files show Ÿ before every amount

Those were guilder signs. DOS code pages 437 and 850 both store ƒ at byte 159, and Windows-1252 has Ÿ there, so ƒ 25,00 turns into Ÿ 25,00. Windows-1252 keeps its own ƒ at 131, so decoding the file as DOS text and saving it again puts the florin back in every row.

ASCII 159

Uppercase Y with umlautFlorin sign

ASCII 159 is Ÿ on Windows and ƒ in old DOS.

Ÿ (Capital Y with Diaeresis) is byte 159 in Windows-1252, Unicode U+0178. French needs it for names with ÿ written in capitals, as in L'HAŸ-LES-ROSES. Its code point breaks a shortcut that works everywhere else in Latin-1. Small letters from à to þ sit exactly 32 above their capitals, but ÿ is U+00FF while Ÿ is U+0178, so subtracting 32 from ÿ gives you ß instead. The small ÿ is byte 255. In UTF-8, Ÿ is C5 B8, misread as Å¸. The HTML entity is &Yuml;.

ƒ (Florin Sign) is byte 159 in code page 437, the original IBM PC character set, and maps to Unicode U+0192. It closes the currency row at 155 to 159, next to ¢, £, ¥ and ₧, standing in for the Dutch guilder. Windows-1252 has the capital Ÿ at 159, so guilder amounts from a DOS file read as Windows-1252 show Ÿ before every figure. Code page 850 kept ƒ at 159 too.

Latin LetterLatin Letter

Technical Details

Code Example

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#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 159 is Ÿ.
       Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */
    printf("\u0178\n");   /* UTF-8: C5 B8 */

    unsigned char b = 159;         /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */
    printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b);    /* 159 0x9F */
    return 0;
}

Code Example

</>

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* Byte 159 is ƒ only on a console using code page 437
       (chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the
       lone byte 0x9F is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */
    putchar(159);

    /* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0x9F is -97.
       Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */
    char c = (char)159;
    unsigned char u = 159;
    printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u);   /* -97 159 */

    /* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */
    printf("\u0192\n");          /* C6 92 */
    return 0;
}

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 0159 on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock on. The leading zero picks the Windows code page. No numeric keypad? In Word, type 0178 and press Alt+X.
Mac: Press Option+U, then Shift+Y.
Linux: In GNOME, or any desktop running IBus, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 178, then Space. With a Compose key set up, press Compose, quote, Y.
Phone: iPhone: tap Shift, long-press Y and pick Ÿ. Android (Gboard): tap the character at the top of this page to copy it.

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 159 on the numeric keypad, with no leading zero. Windows reads it as a DOS code and inserts ƒ.

ƒ is also ASCII 131 on Windows, which has the full guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Those were guilder signs. DOS code pages 437 and 850 both store ƒ at byte 159, and Windows-1252 has Ÿ there, so ƒ 25,00 turns into Ÿ 25,00. Windows-1252 keeps its own ƒ at 131, so decoding the file as DOS text and saving it again puts the florin back in every row.

Frequently Asked Questions

Those were guilder signs. DOS code pages 437 and 850 both store ƒ at byte 159, and Windows-1252 has Ÿ there, so ƒ 25,00 turns into Ÿ 25,00. Windows-1252 keeps its own ƒ at 131, so decoding the file as DOS text and saving it again puts the florin back in every row.

ASCII 159

Uppercase Y with umlautFlorin sign

ASCII 159 is Ÿ on Windows and ƒ in old DOS.

Latin Letter

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 159 is Ÿ.

Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */

printf("\u0178\n"); /* UTF-8: C5 B8 */

unsigned char b = 159; /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */

printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b); /* 159 0x9F */

return 0;

}

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* Byte 159 is ƒ only on a console using code page 437

(chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the

lone byte 0x9F is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */

putchar(159);

/* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0x9F is -97.

Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */

char c = (char)159;

unsigned char u = 159;

printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u); /* -97 159 */

/* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */

printf("\u0192\n"); /* C6 92 */

return 0;

}