ESC/POS, ZPL and TSPL cheat sheet

The printer commands you actually need for receipts and labels, with their bytes. Type in the box to filter.

used means my own agent, Thermalink, sends exactly these bytes and its tests check them. Its receipts print correctly on a BIXOLON SRP-352plusIII, but I have not checked every row on paper one by one. reference means standard Epson ESC/POS that my agent does not send. Cheaper printers skip some commands, so test on yours.

Paper widths

Paper	Resolution	Printable dots	Columns, font A	Columns, font B
80 mm	203 dpi (8 dots/mm)	576 (72 mm)	48	64
80 mm	180 dpi	512	42	56
58 mm	203 dpi	384 (48 mm)	32	42

These are nominal. My "576 dot" printer measured 568 usable dots, so print a ruler before trusting the spec sheet.

ESC/POS (receipt printers)

ESC is byte 1B, GS is 1D, DLE is 10. n is one byte you choose. Bytes are in hex.

Basics

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`ESC @`	1B 40	Initialise the printer. Clears formatting set by earlier jobs. Send it first.	used
`LF`	0A	Print the line buffer and feed one line.	used
`ESC d n`	1B 64 n	Print and feed n lines.	used
`ESC 2`	1B 32	Default line spacing.	reference
`ESC 3 n`	1B 33 n	Line spacing of n dots.	reference

Text style

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`ESC a n`	1B 61 n	Align: 0 left, 1 centre, 2 right.	used
`ESC E n`	1B 45 n	Bold: 1 on, 0 off.	used
`ESC - n`	1B 2D n	Underline: 0 off, 1 thin, 2 thick.	used
`GS B n`	1D 42 n	White on black: 1 on, 0 off.	used
`GS ! n`	1D 21 n	Character size. High 4 bits = width multiplier minus 1, low 4 bits = height multiplier minus 1. 00 normal, 11 double both, 10 double width, 01 double height.	used
`ESC M n`	1B 4D n	Font: 0 = A (12x24), 1 = B (9x17, more columns).	reference
`ESC ! n`	1B 21 n	Older combined mode byte: bit 0 font B, bit 3 bold, bit 4 double height, bit 5 double width, bit 7 underline.	reference

Characters

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`ESC t n`	1B 74 n	Select the code page. Epson numbering: 0 CP437, 2 CP850, 16 Windows-1252, 17 CP866, 19 CP858 (has the euro sign). Other brands number them differently, so check the self-test page.	used
`ESC R n`	1B 52 n	International character set (changes a few ASCII symbols). 0 = USA.	reference

Cut and cash drawer

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`GS V 0`	1D 56 00	Full cut at the current position. Feed a few lines first or you cut through the last line.	used
`GS V 1`	1D 56 01	Partial cut.	used
`GS V 65 n`	1D 56 41 n	Feed to the cutter plus n extra steps, then full cut. Use n = 0 if unsure.	reference
`GS V 66 n`	1D 56 42 n	Feed to the cutter plus n extra steps, then partial cut.	reference
`ESC p 0 t1 t2`	1B 70 00 19 FA	Kick the cash drawer on pin 2. t1 and t2 are the pulse on and off times in 2 ms units.	used
`ESC p 1 t1 t2`	1B 70 01 19 FA	Kick the cash drawer on pin 5.	used

QR code (GS ( k)

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`Model`	1D 28 6B 04 00 31 41 32 00	Select QR model 2.	used
`Module size`	1D 28 6B 03 00 31 43 n	Dot size of one module, n = 1 to 16.	used
`Error correction`	1D 28 6B 03 00 31 45 n	n = 48 L, 49 M, 50 Q, 51 H.	used
`Store data`	1D 28 6B pL pH 31 50 30 d1...dk	pL + pH x 256 = k + 3, where k is the number of data bytes.	used
`Print`	1D 28 6B 03 00 31 51 30	Print the stored symbol.	used

Barcodes (GS k)

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`GS h n`	1D 68 n	Barcode height in dots.	used
`GS w n`	1D 77 n	Module width, n = 2 to 6.	used
`GS H n`	1D 48 n	Human-readable text: 0 none, 1 above, 2 below, 3 both.	used
`CODE128`	1D 6B 49 n d1...dn	Start the data with 7B 42 ("{B") to select code set B.	used
`EAN-13`	1D 6B 43 n d1...dn	n = 12 or 13 digits.	used
`EAN-8`	1D 6B 44 n d1...dn	n = 7 or 8 digits.	used
`UPC-A`	1D 6B 41 n d1...dn	n = 11 or 12 digits.	used
`CODE39`	1D 6B 45 n d1...dn	Digits, capitals and a few symbols.	used

Images

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`GS v 0`	1D 76 30 00 xL xH yL yH d1...dk	Raster image. xL + xH x 256 = width in bytes (dots / 8). yL + yH x 256 = height in dots. One bit per dot, 1 = black, most significant bit on the left. Send tall images in bands.	used

Status

Command	Bytes (hex)	What it does
`DLE EOT n`	10 04 n	Real-time status: 1 printer, 2 offline cause, 3 error cause, 4 paper sensor. The printer answers with one byte, so you need a two-way connection.	reference
`GS r 1`	1D 72 01	Paper sensor status.	reference

A whole receipt in bytes

const ESC = 0x1b, GS = 0x1d;
const text = s => [...new TextEncoder().encode(s)];   // ASCII only; see the code page row above

const bytes = new Uint8Array([
  ESC, 0x40,                      // initialise
  ESC, 0x61, 1,                   // centre
  GS, 0x21, 0x11,                 // double width and height
  ...text('BLUE DOOR CAFE\n'),
  GS, 0x21, 0x00,                 // normal size
  ESC, 0x61, 0,                   // left
  ...text('Flat white x2        8.00\n'),
  ESC, 0x45, 1,                   // bold on
  ...text('TOTAL                8.00\n'),
  ESC, 0x45, 0,                   // bold off
  ESC, 0x64, 3,                   // feed 3 lines so the cut clears the text
  GS, 0x56, 0x00                  // full cut
]);

Getting those bytes from a web page to the printer is the hard part. Thermalink does that, and builds the bytes from JSON so you do not write this by hand.

ZPL (Zebra label printers)

Plain text commands. Positions are in dots: 203 dpi is 8 dots per mm. I have not printed these on a Zebra; they follow Zebra's programming guide.

Command	What it does
`^XA ... ^XZ`	Start and end of a label. Everything goes between them.
`^PW n`	Label width in dots.
`^LL n`	Label length in dots.
`^LH x,y`	Label home: moves the origin for every field.
`^FO x,y`	Field origin: where the next field goes, in dots from the top left.
`^FD text ^FS`	Field data, then field separator. Every field ends with ^FS.
`^CF0,h`	Default font 0 at height h dots.
`^A0N,h,w`	Font 0, normal rotation, height h and width w, for the next field.
`^FB w,lines,,align`	Field block: wrap text to width w. Align is L, C, R or J.
`^BY w,r,h`	Barcode defaults: module width, wide to narrow ratio, height.
`^BCN,h,Y,N,N`	Code 128 barcode, height h, with the text printed below.
`^BQN,2,m`	QR code, model 2, magnification m. The data starts with a prefix: ^FDQA,your-data^FS.
`^GB w,h,t`	Box or line: width, height, line thickness.
`^FR`	Reverse the next field (white on black where it overlaps).
`^CI28`	Read field data as UTF-8.
`^PQ n`	Print n copies.

^XA
^CF0,40
^FO40,40^FDShip to: Jane Doe^FS
^CF0,30
^FO40,90^FD221B Baker Street, London^FS
^FO40,150^BY3^BCN,120,Y,N,N^FD1Z999AA10123456784^FS
^FO40,320^BQN,2,6^FDQA,https://example.com/track/1Z999AA10123456784^FS
^XZ

TSPL (TSC, 4BARCODE, Xprinter label printers)

One command per line, each line ending with CR LF. I have not printed these on a label printer; they follow the TSPL manual.

Command	What it does
`SIZE 50 mm, 30 mm`	Label width and height.
`GAP 2 mm, 0 mm`	Gap between labels and its offset.
`DIRECTION 1`	Print direction, 0 or 1.
`CLS`	Clear the image buffer. Send it before drawing each label.
`TEXT x,y,"font",rot,xmul,ymul,"content"`	Text at x,y in dots. Fonts "1" to "8" are built in; rot is 0, 90, 180 or 270.
`BARCODE x,y,"128",h,human,rot,narrow,wide,"content"`	Barcode. human = 1 prints the text below.
`QRCODE x,y,ECC,cell,mode,rot,"content"`	QR code. ECC is L, M, Q or H; cell is the module size 1 to 10; mode A is automatic.
`BAR x,y,w,h`	Filled bar or line.
`BOX x,y,xend,yend,thickness`	Rectangle outline.
`DENSITY n`	Darkness, 0 to 15.
`SPEED n`	Print speed in inches per second.
`PRINT sets,copies`	Print the label. Always the last line.

SIZE 50 mm, 30 mm
GAP 2 mm, 0 mm
DIRECTION 1
CLS
TEXT 20,20,"3",0,1,1,"Organic Honey 500g"
TEXT 20,60,"2",0,1,1,"Price: 9.99"
BARCODE 20,100,"128",70,1,0,2,2,"SKU-000123"
PRINT 1,1

Last checked 11 October 2026. Found a mistake? Tell me through the Gumroad page.