Combining escape sequences

Escape sequences may be combined into one escape sequence string. There are three important rules to follow when combining code:

1The first two characters after the ? character (the parameterized and group characters— see the figure on the previous page) must be the same in all of the commands to be combined.

2When combining escape sequences, change the uppercase (termination) character in each individual escape sequence to lower case.

3The final character of the combined escape sequence must be uppercase.

The following is an example of an escape sequence string that would be sent to the printer to select legal paper, landscape orientation, and

8 lines per inch:

?&l3A?&l1O?&l8D

The following escape sequence sends the same printer commands by combining them into a shorter sequence:

?&l3a1o8D

Entering escape characters

Printer commands always begin with the escape character (?).

The following table shows how the escape character can be entered from various MS-DOS®software applications.

DOS software application

Entry

What appears

 

 

 

Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony

Type \027

027

Microsoft Word for DOS

Hold down Alt and type 027 on the

←

 

numeric keypad

 

WordPerfect for DOS

Type <27>

<27>

MS-DOS Edit

Hold down Ctrl-P, and press Esc

←

MS-DOS Edlin

Hold down Ctrl-V, and press [

^[

dBase

?? CHR(27)+"command"

?? CHR(27)+" "

 

 

 

EN

Understanding PCL 5e printer command syntax 237