Character matrix printer

A character matrix printer or dot-matrix printer is type of computer printer with a print-head that runs back and forth on the page.

Most often it is an Ink jet printer or impact printer. Generally the print-head prints one line of text. It has a single vertical line of dot-making equipment on its print-head. It produces double-wide characters by printing each vertical slice of a character twice. It produces higher resolutions by printing more slowly. It produces graphics by printing dots, one horizontal character-high stripe at a time.

They are inexpensive, and until the 1990s the most common form of printer used with PCs. They remain in use in devices such as cash registers and ATM printouts: almost all small receipts are printed on this type of printer.