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Printer Escape Sequences:

The Amiga printer device (PRT:) accepts standard escape sequences for implementing special printer features.

For example, you can use escape sequences to set margins, turn on styles such as boldface or italics, and specify spacing.

If the feature is not supported by your printer or printer driver, the escape sequence for it is ignored.

Consult your printer documentation to verify the escape sequences your printer accepts.

Escape sequences are typically used when you print to the printer device directly from the Shell or when you insert print commands into a program.

A typical escape sequence (to turn on boldfacing) is shown as follows:

Esc [1m

This indicates that you must press the following keys in sequence: Esc, [, 1, m. Escape sequences are case-sensitive.

For example, to enter the following escape sequence:

Esc [4W

press the Esc, [, 4, and Shift+W keys.

Numbers inserted into the escape sequence are indicated by <n>.

For example, the escape sequence used to set the left and right margins is:

Esc [<n>;<n>s

If you want to specify a left margin of 5 and a right margin of 75, type:

Esc [5;75s

To send an escape sequence to the printer from the Shell:

  1. Redirect the keyboard input to the printer by typing:

    1> COPY * to PRT:

  2. Wait until disk activity stops and type an escape sequence, such as:

    Esc [2"z

To terminate keyboard input, press Ctrl+\.

You can also create printer command files consisting of several escape sequences by redirecting keyboard input to a file.

For example:

  1. Redirect the keyboard input to a file:

    1> COPY * TO RAM:EscapeFile

  2. Enter the escape sequences, such as:

    Esc [2"z (turns near letter quality on)
    Esc [2w (turns elite type on)
    Est [1m (turns bold face on)
    Ctrl+\ (terminates input)

  3. To send these escape sequences to the printer, enter:

    1> COPY RAM:EscapeFile TO PRT:

Extended Commands:
An extended command lets you specify a printer-specific command, such as a command to use a particular font.

In this case, <n> represents the number of bytes in the command and <x> represents the actual command. In an extended command, one character equals one byte. Esc is one character.

For example, if your printer recognizes Esc k 1 as the command to use a sans serif font, type:

Esc[3"Esck1

If you are entering extended commands within a program, be sure that the commands are applicable to the printer in use.


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