Escape-Chr$(27)-And Other Chr$ Commands; Ascii Codes On The Fx - Epson FX Series User Manual

Now RUN it. You should hear a short beep. (If you don't hear it,
check DIP switch 2-2, using the procedure we gave in Chapter
That's the printer's beeper, which most often sounds to inform you
that you've run out of paper (Appendix F lists other causes of beep-
ing). When you produce the beep, you've proved that on your com-
puter certain codes do indeed perform printer functions. Table 2-3
shows the ranges that the FX uses when it interprets ASCII codes for
characters and functions.
ASCII code
group
0 to 31, 127
32 to 126
128 to 159,255
160 to 254
See either Appendix A or the Quick Reference Card for a chart of
the FX interpretation of each ASCII code number.
This would be a good time to try printing a few of these codes on
your own. And you may want to take a break before you start the
next section.

Escape-CHR$(27)-and other CHR$ commands

As more features are added to the printer, even the extended range
of codes (0 - 255) is inadequate if only single-code CHR$ instructions
can be used. Because of this, Epson has designed the FX printer's logic
to understand special sequences of control codes, the ESCape code
sequences. You use these code sequences to select one or more printing
features, or modes.
Such modes as Italic Mode and Expanded Mode affect the way the
characters look. Other modes affect spacing and therefore the format-
ting of your pages. Appendix C, which is reprinted on the Quick Ref-
erence Card, collects the modes into categories for quick reference.
Each ESCape code sequence consists of the ESCape code, which is
CHR$(27), plus one or more of the FX's other CHR$ control codes.
42
Table 2-3. ASCII codes on the FX
Printer control codes
Standard (Roman) character set
Additional control codes (Function same as 0-31 , 127
Italic character set
FX interpretation
1.)