DOS API: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:29, 30 June 2019

Revision as of 09:55, 10 July 2019

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{{more footnotes|date=May 2015}}

The '''DOS API''' is an [[Application programming interface|API]] which originated with [[86-DOS]] and is used in [[MS-DOS]]/[[PC DOS]] and other [[DOS]]-compatible operating systems. Most calls to the DOS API are invoked using [[software interrupt]] 21h ([[INT (x86 instruction)|INT]] 21h). By calling INT 21h with a subfunction number in the AH [[processor register]] and other parameters in other registers, one invokes various DOS services can be invoked. DOS servicesThese include handling keyboard input, video output, disk file access, program execution, memory allocation, and various other activities. In the late 1980s, [[DOS extender]]s along with the [[DOS Protected Mode Interface]] (DPMI) allow the programs to run in either 16-bit or 32-bit protected mode and still have access to the DOS API.

==History of the DOS API==