ESC/POS print driver for PHP

This project implements a subset of Epson's ESC/POS protocol for thermal receipt printers. It allows you to print receipts with basic formatting, cutting, and barcode printing on a compatible printer.

It is intended for use with networked printers, but you can also use the library to save print jobs to a file.

Basic usage

The library should be initialised with a file pointer to the printer. For a networked printer, this can be opened via fsockopen(). For a local printer, use fopen() to open /dev/lp0 (or a serial interface, etc). If no file pointer is specified, then standard output is used.

A "hello world" receipt can be printed easily (Call this hello-world.php):

<?php
require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . "/escpos.php");
$printer = new escpos();
$printer -> text("Hello World!\n");
$printer -> cut();

This would be executed as:

php hello-world.php | nc 10.x.x.x. 9100

The same output can be passed directly to a socket:

<?php
require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . "/escpos.php");
$fp = fsockopen("10.x.x.x", 9100);
$printer = new escpos($fp);
$printer -> text("Hello World!\n");
$printer -> cut();
fclose($fp);

A complete receipt can be found in the code of Auth in ReceiptPrinter.php. It includes justification, boldness, and a barcode.

Available methods

__construct($fp)

Construct new print object.

Parameters:

• resource $fp: File pointer to print to. Will open php://stdout if none is specified.

text($str)

Add text to the buffer. Text should either be followed by a line-break, or feed() should be called after this. Parameters:

• string $str: The string to print.

feed($lines)

Print and feed line / Print and feed n lines

Parameters:

• int $lines: Number of lines to feed

select_print_mode($mode)

Select print mode(s).

Parameters:

• int $mode: The mode to use. Default is escpos::NUL, which has a similar effect to running initialize().

Any of the MODE_* constants can be OR'd together and used as $mode. Valid modes are:

• MODE_FONT_A
• MODE_FONT_B
• MODE_EMPHASIZED
• MODE_DOUBLE_HEIGHT
• MODE_DOUBLE_WIDTH
• MODE_UNDERLINE

set_underline($underline)

Turn underline mode on/off.

Parameters:

• int $underline: 0 for no underline, 1 for underline, 2 for heavy underline. Defaults to 1 if not specified.

initialize()

Initialize printer. This resets all modes back to default, and you may wish to place it at the top of your scripts if poorly-written applications leave the printer in a strange state.

set_emphasis($on)

Turn emphasized mode on/off.

Parameters:

• boolean $on: true for emphasis, false for no emphasis.

set_double_strike($on)

Turn double-strike mode on/off.

Parameters:

• boolean $on: true for double strike, false for no double strike.

set_font($font)

Select character font.

Parameters:

• int $font: The font to use. Must be either FONT_A, FONT_B, or FONT_C.

set_justification($justification)

Select justification.

Parameters:

• int $justification: Must be JUSTIFY_LEFT, JUSTIFY_CENTER, or JUSTIFY_RIGHT.

feed_reverse($lines)

Print and reverse feed n lines.

Parameters:

• int $lines: number of lines to feed. If not specified, 1 line will be fed.

cut($mode, $lines)

Cut the paper.

Parameters:

• int $mode: Cut mode, either CUT_FULL or CUT_PARTIAL. If not specified, CUT_FULL will be used.
• int $lines: Number of lines to feed before cutting. If not specified, 3 will be used.

set_barcode_height($height)

Set barcode height.

Parameters:

• int $height: Height in dots. If not specified, 8 will be used.

barcode($content, $type)

Print a barcode.

Parameters:

• string $content: The information to encode.
• int $type: The barcode standard to output. If not specified, BARCODE_CODE39 will be used.

Currently supported barcode standards are (depending on your printer):

• BARCODE_UPCA
• BARCODE_UPCE
• BARCODE_JAN13
• BARCODE_JAN8
• BARCODE_CODE39
• BARCODE_ITF
• BARCODE_CODABAR

Note that some barcode standards can only encode numbers, so attempting to print non-numeric codes with them may result in strange behaviour.

Further notes

Posts I've written up for people who are learning how to use receipt printers:

• What is ESC/POS, and how do I use it?, which documents the output of test.php.
• Setting up an Epson receipt printer

Vendor documentation

Epson notes that not all of its printers support all ESC/POS features, and includes a table in their documentation:

• FAQ about ESC/POS from Epson

Note that many printers produced by other vendors use the same standard, and may or may not be compatible.