How to type a £ symbol over console with Cisco IOS?

Question

I've noticed that I'm unable to type a UK-pound symbol (£) over the serial console using Cisco IOS 12.2. The symbol instead is interpreted as a hash (#).

If I open the Windows character map and copy-paste a £ into the console, it still is interpreted as a hash - really strange.

Also tried using both HyperTerminal and Putty - same result.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Exactly. I can't think of anything in IOS that would require the £ symbol. But the # is very commonly used in IT - and sometimes difficult to get UK keyboards to produce. — Michael Hampton, Oct 17 '14 at 11:00

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:57

By default, Cisco IOS only understands traditional 7-bit ASCII characters. (ie up to ascii code 127).

If you want 8-bit characters, such as the pound sign, configure this in your router...

LAB#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
LAB(config)#default-value exec-character-bits 8
LAB(config)#default-value special-character-bits 8
LAB(config)#exit
LAB#exit

I need to give credit to Brett Lykins' answer because I didn't know IOS could support 8-bit characters until I saw his answer.

How to type a £ symbol over console with Cisco IOS?

1 Answers1