Contents
Hewlett-Packard Vancouver Site
Printing History
Preface and Printing History
Which printers are covered by this guide1
About this Developer’s Guide
Special Note HP DeskJet 710C, 720C and 820C Series printers
Special Notes
Table of Contents
HP PCL Commands
Fonts
HP LaserJet Bitmap Character Definition
Printer Commands
Length is set, in number
Setting
How This Developer’s Guide Works
Length set to 66 lines
Command Option Recognition Grid G
Command Summary D
Command Usage Table E
Command Options F
Important Point
Detailed Command Description
History of HP PCL Printer Language
What are Printer Commands?
HP PCL Commands
Introduction to HP PCL
Syntax of Escape Sequences
Two-Character Escape Sequences
Parameterized Escape Sequences
Esc & l 1 O
Esc
Logical Page, Physical
Text Area
Current Active Position CAP
Layout
CAP Reference Point
CAP Position
Print Environment
Merged Text and Graphics
Leverage from Previous Programs
Follow Specifications
Priority of Feature Set Commands
Programming Hints
Time Savers
Priority of Commands
Programming Hints
Print Modes
HP PCL Commands
Testing Commands
Control Codes and Special Character Codes
Display Functions turned off
Display Functions Mode on
Display Functions Mode OFF
Display Functions turned on
Text Enhancements
CR = CR, LF LF = CR, LF FF
CR = CR LF = LF FF = FF
CR = CR, LF LF = LF FF = FF
CR = CR LF = CR, LF FF =
Enables End-of-Line Wrap
Disables End-of-Line Wrap
End-of-Line Wrap
Job Control
Reset Esc E
Gray Balance Default Modes
Printer Control
Gray Balance
Dry Timer Defaults
Dry Timer
Best quality selected
EconoFast mode selected
Print Quality
Normal quality selected
Inkjet Paper
Plain paper
Bond paper
Special paper HP Premium
HP PCL Commands
Self-Test Esc z
Printer Diagnostics
Length Line Values
Control
Tables
Size
Size set to that indicated
By value index in the following
Value Description
Load from tray
Load z-fold media banners
Print current page source is
Unchanged
Reverse Portrait
Orientation
Portrait
Landscape
Horizontal Motion Index
Number of 1/120 inch
Increments
Out of range values
Vertical Motion Index
Number of 1/48 inch increments
Between rows
Clear Horizontal Margins
Line Spacing
Sets the number of lines printed
Per inch
Right Margin
Left Margin
Sets the left margin to the left
Edge of the specified column
Number of lines at the current
Lines-per-inch setting
Top Margin
Top margin is set to specified
Lines, from the top margin
Disables perforation skip mode
Enables perforation skip mode
Sets length of the text area,
HP PCL Commands
Space
Horizontal Positioning Commands
Backspace
Carriage Return
Horizontal Tab
Formfeed
Inch
Move CAP Horizontal Decipoints
Moves CAP horizontally by
Specified number of decipoints
Units
Specified number of columns
Limit
Specified number of HP PCL
HP PCL Commands
Column position on a new line
Vertical Positioning Commands
Move CAP Vertical Rows
Moves CAP to the same
Move CAP Vertical Decipoints
Moves CAP to a new position
Along the vertical axis
Axis
Move CAP Vertical HP PCL Units
Moves CAP specified number
HP PCL units along the Y
Font Symbol Set
Font Selection
Font Selection by Attribute
Symbol Set Name
TIS TAPCI23
Current font is set
Fixed spacing
Proportional spacing
Inter character spacing for
Height for current font is set
Font Height
Specified characteristics are
Font Style
Applied to font style request
Matching Algorithm
Thin
Book or text weight
Ultra thin
Extra thin
Font Selection by ID
Font with indicated ID is
Selected
Downloading Fonts
Font ID Esc * c # D
Download Font
Download Font Esc s # W font definition
Download Character
Character Code
Temp, permanent, and soft
Delete all fonts temp
Permanent, and soft
Delete all temporary fonts
Raster Graphics
Raster Mode
Commands Locked Out of Raster Mode
Commands Allowed in Raster Mode
Left boundary current vertical
Printer returns to text mode
Command processing
Start graphics at logical
Graphics data printed at 300 dpi
Graphics data printed at 75 dpi
Graphics data printed at 100 dpi
Graphics data printed at 150 dpi
Specified number of pixels at
Current resolutiona
Source Raster Width
Raster region width is set to
Movement
Offset
Cursor is moved specified
Number of raster lines of vertical
Data is set to the printer.
Raster Data Transfer
Specified number of bytes
Graphics data for a single plane
Data
Transfer Raster by Row/Block
Following specified number
Data bytes sent to the printer as
Raster Compression
Has precedence if it is met before the literal run count
Method 2 Tagged Image File Format Encoding Tiff revision
Method 3 Delta Row Encoding
Replacement count 1 Left offset from the current byte O
Delta ROW Example
Row 3 Esc * b 5 W 000000000000111100100010101010101010
Method 9 Compressed Replacement Delta Row Encoding
Row 1 Esc * b 3 m 2 W 00000001
Row 2 Esc * b 2 W
Control Bit =
Control Bit
HP PCL Commands
Planes, device RGB palette
Color
Single plane K palette
Planes, device CMY palette
White no ink Black
Black/Yellow Black/Magenta
Foreground Color
Specified by the given index
Current palette
Planes per Row Index Color
Planes per Row Index Color Printed
Fonts
Standard Bitmap Font Definition
Format
Resolution-Specified Bitmap Font Definition
Symbol Set Type Ubyte
Font Descriptor Size Uint
Descriptor Format Ubyte
Style MSB Uint
Font Type Ubyte
Orientation Ubyte
Baseline Position Uint
Cell Width Uint
Cell Height Uint
Pitch Uint
Symbol Set Uint
Spacing Bool
Character Set UINT16
Width Type Sbyte
Stroke Weight Sbyte
Height Uint
XHeight Uint
Typeface Family Value
Typeface LSB/MSB Ubyte
Quality
Serif Style Ubyte
Text Height Uint
Placement
Underline Position Sbyte
Underline Thickness Ubyte
Height Extended Ubyte
First Code Uint
Last Code/Number of Chars Uint
Pitch Extended Ubyte
Font Name ASC16
Resolution Uint
Cap Height Uint
Font Number Uint
102
Copyright
Font Scaling Technology
Segment Size
Bitmap Resolution Segment
Resolution UINT16
103
104
Stroke Weight UINT32
Character Enhancement Segment
Style UINT32
105
Sizing UINT16
106
Dual-Pitch-Space Char Segment
Full-Width-Space Character Code UINT16
Half-Width-Space Character Code
HP LaserJet Bitmap Character Definition
Format Ubyte
107
108
Continuation Bool
Descriptor Size Ubyte
Class Ubyte
109
Class 2 Compressed Bitmap Character Data 110
Character Height Uint
Left Offset Sint
Top Offset Sint
Character Width Uint
Delta X Sint
Character Data
112
Banner Printing
Esc & l # H
113
Unloading Continuous Media
Command Sequence
Margins
Moving to a New Logical
Printing Cutsheet with Z-Fold Media
Power-On with Continuous Media
Power-Off with Continuous Media
Sample HP PCL for a Banner Print Job
HP PCL Code Samples
Formatting Program Example
116
117
118
Commands Sent to Printer
119
14.3 3-Plane Color Graphics
120
14.4 4-Plane Color Graphics
121
122
Printer Commands
123
124
Other Resources for Assistance
HP Developer Exchange
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