User`s manual

8–29IBM Proprinter Emulation

Escape

Printer capability is greatly increased by combining character codes into

escape sequences. Escape sequences always begin with the ASCII escape

sequence introducer, ESC (hex 1B).

An ESC sequence introducer in the data stream signals the printer to wait for

special instructions. The character codes following the ESC character tell the

printer what to do.

NOTE: For readability, code sequences appear in this manual with spaces

inserted between command elements. Do not insert spaces between

code characters when you are programming unless the ASCII space

character (SP) is part of a code sequence. For example, a code

sequence printed in this manual as ESC [ 1 is programmed as

ESC[1

An escape sequence uses two or more bytes to define a specific printer

control function. The format for an escape sequence is:

ESC X

2D – 5F

0 – FF

Escape

Sequence

Introducer

Character(s) Numerical

parameter(s)

After the ESC character are one or more characters which indicate the action

of the control code. One or more numerical parameters may in turn follow

these characters. For example, the sequence ESC S n tells the printer to

begin the superscript print attribute if n is an even number, or to begin the

subscript attribute if n is an odd number.

If the characters following the ESC code are not within the defined ranges, or

if they are within the defined ranges but not recognized as a function of this

printer, the entire sequence is ignored.

An Escape code can occur anywhere in the datastream and is acted upon

immediately.