6. COMMANDS; 6.1. Basic printer operations; Null - Page 299

CHAPTER 6 EPSON - 9 

6.

COMMANDS 

6.1.

Basic printer operations 

The most common printer operations are described in this section.  Some are invoked using control codes 
alone - the rest require escape sequences.  For the sake of completeness, several instructions which are 
part of the Epson FX-850 mode instruction sets, but which an HL Series printer ignores are included. 

Null  

NUL  

(0)  

<00h> 

NUL

 (ASCII code 0) is ignored. 

Bell 

BEL  

(7)  

<07h> 

BEL

 (ASCII code 7) is ignored. 

Space 

SP  

(32) 

<20h> 

The 

SP

 control code (ASCII code 32) moves the current print position one space to the right.  

LPRINT CHR$(32); 'Print a space 

Backspace 

BS  

(08) 

<08h> 



The 

BS

 control code (ASCII code 8) moves the current print position one space to the left.  



This code is only effective when used with left justification, which is the default justification mode. 

LPRINT CHR$(8); 'Backspace 

Carriage return 

CR  

(13) 

<0Dh> 



The 

CR

 control code (ASCII 13) moves the print position to the left margin on the current line. 



If automatic line feed is on,  this code moves the current print position to the left margin on the next line.  On 
some printers you can turn on automatic line feed using the control panel switches. 

LPRINT CHR$(13); 'Carriage return 

Line feed 

LF  

(10) 

<0Ah> 



The 

LF

 control code (ASCII code 10) moves the current print position down one line, using the current line 

space setting. 



This code does not cause a carriage return to be performed. 



If the print position is such that this operation would move it below the bottom margin, the current page is 
ejected and the print position is moved to the top of the next page instead. 

Form feed 

FF  

(12) 

<0Ch> 



The 

FF

 control code (ASCII code 12) ejects the current page and moves the current print position to the top 

of the next page,  unless the current page is blank. 



This code does not cause a carriage return to be performed,  hence the print position does not change 
horizontally. 



If the current page is blank this control code has no effect. 

LPRINT CHR$(12);  'Form feed