ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers, and is still widely used in many receipt thermal printers. During the era of dot matrix printers, it was also used by other manufacturers (e.g., NEC), sometimes in modified form. At the time, it was a popular mechanism to add formatting to printed text, and was widely supported in software.
ESC/P derives its name from the start of the escape sequences used, which start with the escape character ESC (ASCII code 27). As an example, ESC E will switch to printing in bold font, while ESC F switches off bold printing. The ESC/P control codes are sometimes also referred to as Epson LQ codes, as they were made popular by the Epson LQ series of dot matrix printers, even though ESC/P was introduced long before LQ printers.
Variantsedit
There are several variants of ESC/P, as not all printers implement all commands.
ESC/P J84 adds special support for Japanese computers.
ESC/P2 is a more recent variant of ESC/P by Epson. ESC/P2 is backward compatible with ESC/P, but adds commands for new printer features such as scalable fonts and enhanced graphics printing.
ESC/P-R is a variant now used by Epson on many inkjet printers.[1]
ESC/P-K adds special support for Chinese computers.
Current printersedit
As of 2014, few modern/office/consumer non-Epson printers use ESC/P; instead most are driven through a standardized page description language, usually PCL or PostScript, or they use proprietary protocols such as Hardware Code Pages.[3]
Note many current clone thermal receipt printers still continue to use the ESC/POS command set.
All current Epson impact printers still support ESC/P ,[4][5] all current Epson receipt/thermal printers support ESC/POS and some Epson Stylus inkjets still seem to be using some variant of ESC/P. See the Gutenprint (Gimp Print) project for source code examples.
^. Global.epson.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
^"FAQ about ESC/POS" (PDF). Seiko Epson Corporation.
^"Driver: eplaser-jp - OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation". Openprinting.org. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
^. Epson America, Inc. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2014. Printer Language: Epson ESC / P, IBM PPDS, Okidata Microline (FX-890 Okidata Mode only)
^. Epson America, Inc. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2014. Printer Language: Epson ESC / P3, IBM PPDS
External linksedit
Epson ESC/P Reference Manual: Dec 1997, 2002 Addendum, June 2004
List of Epson FX printer codes
Gutenprint CVSweb view of printers.xml
The Developer's Guide to Gutenprint, Chapter 5: ESC/P2
short, epson, standard, code, printers, sometimes, styled, escape, printer, control, language, developed, epson, control, computer, printers, mainly, used, matrix, printers, some, inkjet, printers, still, widely, used, many, receipt, thermal, printers, during,. ESC P short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape P is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers and is still widely used in many receipt thermal printers During the era of dot matrix printers it was also used by other manufacturers e g NEC sometimes in modified form At the time it was a popular mechanism to add formatting to printed text and was widely supported in software Contents 1 Derivation 2 Variants 3 Current printers 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksDerivation editESC P derives its name from the start of the escape sequences used which start with the escape character ESC ASCII code 27 As an example ESC E will switch to printing in bold font while ESC F switches off bold printing The ESC P control codes are sometimes also referred to as Epson LQ codes as they were made popular by the Epson LQ series of dot matrix printers even though ESC P was introduced long before LQ printers Variants editThere are several variants of ESC P as not all printers implement all commands ESC P J84 adds special support for Japanese computers ESC P2 is a more recent variant of ESC P by Epson ESC P2 is backward compatible with ESC P but adds commands for new printer features such as scalable fonts and enhanced graphics printing ESC P R is a variant now used by Epson on many inkjet printers 1 ESC POS is a variant for controlling receipt printers as commonly used at the point of sale POS 2 ESC P K adds special support for Chinese computers Current printers editAs of 2014 few modern office consumer non Epson printers use ESC P instead most are driven through a standardized page description language usually PCL or PostScript or they use proprietary protocols such as Hardware Code Pages 3 Note many current clone thermal receipt printers still continue to use the ESC POS command set All current Epson impact printers still support ESC P 4 5 all current Epson receipt thermal printers support ESC POS and some Epson Stylus inkjets still seem to be using some variant of ESC P See the Gutenprint Gimp Print project for source code examples See also editHardware code page Printer driver CUPS Apple MacOS Linux printing subsystemReferences edit ESC P R Library Innovation Epson Global epson com Archived from the original on 4 January 2019 Retrieved 3 January 2019 FAQ about ESC POS PDF Seiko Epson Corporation Driver eplaser jp OpenPrinting The Linux Foundation Openprinting org Retrieved 3 January 2019 FX 890 Impact Printer Epson America Inc Archived from the original on 8 July 2015 Retrieved 3 March 2014 Printer Language Epson ESC P IBM PPDS Okidata Microline FX 890 Okidata Mode only LQ 590 Impact Printer Epson America Inc Archived from the original on 8 August 2013 Retrieved 3 March 2014 Printer Language Epson ESC P3 IBM PPDSExternal links editEpson ESC P Reference Manual Dec 1997 2002 Addendum June 2004 Epson Developer Site List of Epson FX printer codes Gutenprint CVSweb view of printers xml The Developer s Guide to Gutenprint Chapter 5 ESC P2 Source of Epson P R driver for Linux Epson ESC P2 scalable fonts print sample 300dpi scan Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title ESC P amp oldid 1129172928, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
