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