Before using printer commands, compare these characters:
Lowercase l: | l | Uppercase O: | O |
Number one: | 1 | Number 0: | 0 |
Many printer commands use the lowercase letter l (l) and the number one (1), or the uppercase letter O (O) and the number zero (0). These characters might not appear on your screen as shown here. You must use the exact character and case specified for PCL 6 or PCL 5e printer commands.
The figure below displays the elements of a typical printer command (in this instance, a command for page orientation).
Escape character (begins | Value field (contains both | ||||||||
escape sequence) | alpha and numeric characters) | ||||||||
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Parameterized | Group | Termination character |
character | character | (uppercase) |
Escape sequences can 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) 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 eight lines per inch:
?&l3A?&l1O?&l8D
The following escape sequence sends the same printer commands by combining them into a shorter sequence:
?&l3a1o8D
176 Appendix C Printer commands | ENWW |