PCL Command Sequences

All PCL Command Sequences begin with the escape character (an ASCII control code with a hex value of 1Bh, 27 decimal) and end with the first upper case letter (or "=" note: "@" is considered an uppercase letter). In between there is either nothing (the PCL command is just the escape and a single upper case letter) or a set of one or two characters and often a numerical value. The single character commands are listed at the end of the "Decoded PCL Commands" table below. The first non-uppercase character after the escape will be a symbol between "!" and "\" (most commonly one of %,&,( or *) which is called the "parameter." After the parameter there is normally a lower case letter called the "group." After this there may be a numeric value. If no value is present, the value is assumed to be zero. Finally the ending uppercase letter is called the "command."

See Examples, Tutorials below for some samples of PCL commands and the Decoded Commands List for detailed information. Note that these use the text "Ec" to mean the escape character. Since the escape character is not printable, it is very hard to convey in human readable text. Common abreviations are Esc, Ec, [], or <-. See the ASCII page for more information on the codes. That page also allows you to convert between hex, decimal or ASCII codes.

ASCII control commands  and HPGL (after PCL command to enter HPGL mode) are also acceptable in PCL 5. Printers that support PJL (Laserjet 4 and later) should be told to use PCL should be entered via the PJL ENTER LANGUAGE command.

Most of the problems people have with PCL are caused by not being aware of all the codes that are being sent to the printer and how they interact. Application programs, the language engine under the application, operating system printer drivers, network print que, and any number of other things will add codes to the print job before it reaches the printer and can cause the printer to behave in ways that are not expected. To understand why the printer prints as it does, you need to see what it saw.

There is a code that will allow you to see what is actually being recieved by the printer. Send esc&s0CescY to the printer before you print your problem job or as the first codes in the problem job. This command tells the printer to print all following commands rather than excecute them. You will get very funny looking printouts, but if you "decode" them by looking at each PCL command that the printer recieved and learning what it does (see the list below), you will begin to understand why the printer printed what it did.

If you don't see any change after sending these "debug" codes before your main job, your network connection may be resetting the printer between jobs. You may need to move the printer to a local parallel port connection to debug the problems. When you do see the print codes and you want to return the printer to normal operation, you must cycle the printer power to get the printer out of this debug mode.

parm: <!...\>?.
group: <`...~>?.
digits: <0...9>?.
number: digits | '.' | digits ?.
               | ?.
value: | sign number ?
       | number ?
esc | parm | group [ value | lowercase? command ? PCLParmCmd ]
                           | 'W' @+value ? PCLParmCmd .
                           | uppercase? command ? PCLParmCmd .
    | '=' ? PCLSingleCmd .
    | '9' ?
    | 'E' ?
    | 'Y' ?
    | 'Z' ?
    | error .

See:

• Decoded Commands List

Examples, tutorials

• Horizontal Motion Index (HMI)
• Vertical Motion Index (VMI)
• Print Black Page (Print Model)
• Sending Escape Sequences in DOS
• Maximum Printable Page
• Relative Cursor Positioning
• Font selection list
• Download Soft Fonts
• Downloadable Font Creation
• Display Functions (Debug Mode)
• Symbol Set Selection
• Transparent Print Data
• Cursor Positioning (Using Dots)
• Using PJL Commands
• Common PJL Commands for the LJ4 Family
• Combined Modes of Raster Graphics
• Reverse Pattern Text
• Shadow Text Using Print Model
• Drawing Rectangles (PCL)
• Right and center justification of print data without concern for character widths.
• wrapping words
• Printing Reversed (white on black) text
• Rendering PCL
• Parseing PCL
• Bitmap Pictures
• Color

See also:

• http://www.PCLParaphernalia.eu For PCL5 and PCL6 (PCL XL) analysis, use the 'PRN File Analyse' tool in the (free) PCLParaphernalia application (downloadable from the 'Downloads' page of (see link).
  
  The application also contains a 'Print Languages' tool to display tables of PCL5 sequences, PCL XL tags, PCL XL enumerations, PJL commands, etc.
  
  Another tool is a 'Status Readback' tool which will send a PCL or PJL 'status readback' request to the printer and display the returned data.
  
  The application requires the .NET 4.0 runtime.
  For tools which interact with a printer, it only works with those which are network (TCP/IP Port 9100) connected.+
• Goran Tomic refers to

  /techref/language/pcl/index.htm

  Hi, guys. My first time asking, please don't shoot me for nubishness.

  I am parsing some PCL5 and I ran into some peculiar stuff:
  

  1) embeded data with no command preceding it, usually hex 20es, like: "1b 2a 70 38 39 32 58 25 26 27 28 29 27 24 2a 2b 29" - here you can see a horisontal cursor movement command, but right after x58 I get a string of 20es, related apparently to nothing.
  What is this stuff and is there a way to predict it lengthwise? My guess was content to be drawn right after a movement, but I would like to predict it's appearance to parse it properly.

  2) Sometimes I get a x0d byte at the end of embeded data, like so: "1b 2a 76 36 57 00 01 08 08 08 08 0d"
  Sometimes it's on the end of unpredicted data I mentioned in 1), like so: "1b 2a 70 31 38 33 32 58 29 27 24 2e 2f 30 24 0d"
  It appears other places too, like right after exit from PJL and entrance to PCL following the x0a(newline) byte, like so(PJL is ascii for clarity): "@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL 0a 0d".
  What is this byte for and can I predict it's appearance?

  James Newton of Massmind replies: x0d is a carriage return. The stuff in the 20's are ASCII control characters. See: ASCII+

  +

• Osvaldo Marques, Jr of DIS-Desenvolvimento e Implantação de Sistemas Ltda refers to /techref/member/OM-DIS-XEA/pcltotxt.htm

  C program to convert a pcl image file to text for editing and to convert the edited text file to a pcl image file again.
  

• http://www.lter.umn.edu/tools/t1013.html Some code to print bitmaps to PCL and to extract bitmaps from PCL+
• http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl02705.html Common PCL commands

Questions:

• does PCL support arithmetic commands like add, subtract, division and multipy?
  +
• when moving from HPGL to PCL and back, it seems the PCL code:
  ESC&a1r1C
  is affecting the HPGL pen command by moving down -7. (one can assume one pcl ROW). Has anyone heard of this interaction before? James Newton of MassMind replies: It is more likely that you have a carriage return, and/or line feed in the stream that is moving you down one line. These codes can't be seen in a normal editor, and are sometimes inserted by the output command in programming languages without the programmer realizing it. Use the PCL debug commands to force the printer to print the codes in the job, rather than executing the codes, and see if some unexpected characters show up in that area.+

  +

• micromackTakeThisOuT at comcast.net asks:

  Hello,
  I'm trying to utilize PCL and macros to get a report to print correctly. Basically, I have 1 Logo image (which I used ImageMagick to convert to PCL from a BMP), I have 1 barcode PCL file (that I generated via a program I wrote which draws rectangles for each bar) and obviously the report itself). My intention was to simpley dump the logo and barcode PCL files into a single PCL file, wrap them with a macro, and enable macro overlay right before printing report. My problem is, upon doing this I end up with 2 pages. 1 with only the Logo, and 1 with the barcode/report. I've tried hand altering the pcl file to get it correct, however, the converted/logo file doesn't look like standard pcl, looks like binary garble. I also found that hand creating a pcl logo wrapped with macro commands will immediately print once submitted to the printer, even without me executing the macro, it's almost as if something in the logo/pcl/binary/garble is triggering the printer to print/mis-interpret the data stream. Any idea what could be causing my macro to basically page break mid print? I can provide samples etc.. if you can respond with an email address I can send samples to. Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

  James Newton of MassMind replies: Your problems are many...

  • First, any logo in PCL is going to be binary data, and if you try to edit it with a non-binary editor, it will be garbled.
  • Second, ImageMagick is putting out a complete PCL print page, which includes page setup commands which will conflict with the page setup in your other file.
  • Finally, ImageMagick uses a format of PCL picture data that can not be moved, and does not integrate well with printed data.

  I have a program that produces non-paged, relative position, easily combined PCL image macros, but I can not sell or release it. Send me the logo and $20 and I'll process it for you.+

  +

• Goran Tomic asks:

  Hi, guys. My first time asking, please don't shoot me for nubishness.

  I am parsing some PCL5 and I ran into some peculiar stuff:
  

  1) embeded data with no command preceding it, usually hex 20es, like: "1b 2a 70 38 39 32 58 25 26 27 28 29 27 24 2a 2b 29" - here you can see a horisontal cursor movement command, but right after x58 I get a string of 20es, related apparently to nothing.
  What is this stuff and is there a way to predict it lengthwise? My guess was content to be drawn right after a movement, but I would like to predict it's appearance to parse it properly.

  2) Sometimes I get a x0d byte at the end of embeded data, like so: "1b 2a 76 36 57 00 01 08 08 08 08 0d"
  Sometimes it's on the end of unpredicted data I mentioned in 1), like so: "1b 2a 70 31 38 33 32 58 29 27 24 2e 2f 30 24 0d"
  It appears other places too, like right after exit from PJL and entrance to PCL following the x0a(newline) byte, like so(PJL is ascii for clarity): "@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL 0a 0d".
  What is this byte for and can I predict it's appearance?

  James Newton of Massmind replies: x0d is a carriage return. The stuff in the 20's are ASCII control characters. See: ASCII+

  +

• Peter Silversmith asks:

  "we can create a macro for you given the logos or other text, etc.. you wish to see on the page.+"
  THANK YOU for offering to make a macro and code for me. I simply want to put a header (letterhd.bmp) and a footer (letterft.bmp) as an overlay on the top and bottom of a DOS program printer output (ie letterhd on top, then the letter, then letterft on the bottom). I need to the macro to bring in the header - allow the letter, then bring in the footer - which are .bmp files. THANK YOU!
  

• silversmithTakeThisOuT at email.com asks:

  I would like to put a letterhead and a footer graphic as an overlay on a dos output letter(.bmp, but I can convert to any format). Please tell me how to do this; the dos program allows sending an initial and ending file command for letter printing, as well as a few custom entered esc sequences during the printing. Thank you!!

  James Newton of Massmind replies: You would need to make a PCL Macro file with the commands to draw the letterhead and footer inside it (see Macros). If your graphic includes a bitmaped logo, you will need to include that as PCL commands (See Bitmapped Pictures). The completed macro would then need to be enabled for overlay (&f4X) and will then appear on top of each printed page. It's important to avoid any printer reset or macro commands between the definition and overlay of the macro and the actual print data. Alternatively, we can create a macro for you given the logos or other text, etc.. you wish to see on the page.+

  +

• sams_innTakeThisOuT at yahoo.com asks:

  Hi, Is it possible to print a string between 2 fixed positions on the paper. I mean even if string is long, cutoff the rest after the end position. If i use Esc*p500x500Y, it will print full string.

  James Newton of Massmind replies: I think the only way to cut off the end of the string is to "erase" it with an opaque white rectangle after you have already written it out. That's NOT a clean solution, I know... You might try playing with the left and right printable margins...+

  +

• mjpTakeThisOuT at saa.com asks: " Is there a way to insert a non-printing string in a PCL file? That is, a "comment"?" James Newton of Massmind replies:
  • Move the cursor off the right edge of the page and print your comment there.
  • Change the fill to white and print where nothing else is printed.
  • @PJL REMARK command. (only at the start or end of the print job)
  • Download a fake font where the font name is the comment.
  • record a macro with the comment as the content and never play it back.
  • etc...
  +

  +

• maximiliano.geraldoTakeThisOuT at gmail.com asks: " Hi,
  I just want to draw a horizontal line from x1 to x2, but i only found rectangle commands.
  What PCL command I need to use??
  thanks" James Newton of Massmind replies: A horizontal line is a rectangle with a hight of one pixel. Use the rectangle commands.

  +

• How to write a simple program in pcl language
  James Newton of James Newton's Massmind replies: PCL is not a programming language. It is a printer control language and more generally a page markup language. Having said that, the standard "Hello World" program is:
  EscEHello WorldEscE
  where Esc is replaced with the single ASCII escape character. Variables can be defined and recalled through macros. There are no decision statements (such as IF or FOR) other than the number of copies command, the only input is from the host and the only output is to the paper.+

  +

• derek.sawyersTakeThisOuT at ncsecu.org asks:

  I have been told that I can take a TIFF image file and prefix it with a PCL command to use in an IBM z/Os PCL2AFP conversion tool. What is that command and what exactly do I do with it? We are hoping to be able to use this in batch processing.

  James Newton replies: I do not believe that is correct. There are simularities between the encoding of certain types of TIFF images and the PCL image encoding, but the headers are different so they would have to be stripped from the TIFF before the PCL header is added. Instead, I would look for existing programs that convert images to PCL. ImageMagick is one possibility.+

  +

• karmelTakeThisOuT at cwjamaica.com asks:

  I am using an old dbase5 for dos program and would like to get compressed print from an HP 1320 laserjet.
  What PCL sequence should I use for compressed print and then to go back to normal print ?

  James Newton replies: See The PCL Typeface List and the entries for Universe Condensed.+

  +

• Am trying to print company logo at the top of report. I opened the logo in word and printed to a file and ftp to unix and called that file from report. It is printing fine but skips a page. How can I solve that - skipping of page after printing the logo? James Newton replies: Any commands at the end of the logo file or the beginning of the print job that specify page setup (orientation, tray, paper size, etc...) will cause a page eject between. Remove the job setup from the mail print job and rely on the page setup at the start of the logo or convert the logo to a pcl macro and insert a macro call in the main job.+

  ++

• HaasmTakeThisOuT at wishmail.net

  For a report made by a system that can only output text files, I want to create squares around some text areas using PCL. However when I try to change the horizontal cursor position, nothing happens. A square would only show top, bottom and left lines. I tried this using &a#H, *p#X and &a#C. I use PCLreader software or direct to a HP2550Lj printer. Any suggestions on what could cause this?

  
  *p900x600Y
  *c600a6b0P
  *p900x600Y
  *c6a600b0P
  *p900x1200Y
  *c606a6b0P
  *p1500x600Y
  *c6a600b0P

  James Newton replies: Ah, yes, common error. The issue is the carriage returns and line feeds between the codes. Each CR/LF returns the cursor to the left edge of the page. Putting all the codes on one line fixes the problem.+

  +

• iantTakeThisOuT at mailbox.co.uk asks:

  How do I type the same character (or pattern) twice without moving the cursor on or stepping the paper on? We are trying to use PCL in a final year project at university to print a mask for an integrated circuit application where exact registration between the printed layers will be critical... We are not very familar with PCL and HP don't seem to want to help. Many thanks

  James Newton replies: I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "moving the cursor on" but I assume you want the cursor to stay in or return to the place it was before you typed the character. I also don't understand how that applies to registration between layers. However...

  • You can save the cursor position before and restore it after each character with the &f#S commands.
  • A carrage return without a line feed will return the cursor to the start of the line without advancing down the page if you have end of line termination set to &k0G.
  • The cursor can be returned to the start of the page with *p0x0Y after any amount of text has been printed, without triggering a page eject as long as the text does not exceed the bottom margin of the page.
  +

  +

• young726TakeThisOuT at yahoo.com asks:

  Hi,
  
  I am wondering whether PCL5 or PCL6 supports CMYK? I understand that PCL supports CMY color space, which means each pixel could have three components, i.e. C, M and Y. Printer might generate a K component by itself. However, if I want to generate the K component and pass to the printer, how to do it? In the other words, how to make the printer take all 4 components (CMYK) for every single pixel of the image?

• mparkTakeThisOuT at vitria.com asks:

  I am trying to print barcode (interleaved 2 of 5) along with data. I am formatting the data in PCL and submitting it to CUPS, which ultimately routes it to Lexmark T632 printer. I am able to print the text data, but cannot create barcode with interleaved 2 of 5.
  
  I am not sure I am asking the right question?
  
  Any input or guidance will help.
  
  Thanks,

  James Newton replies: PCL doesn't have any inherent ability to print barcodes. If the printer has a font, you need to find the PCL code to select it (print a typeface list from the printer front panel) and then send that before the data. 2 of 5 also has an encoding that you must deal with. It should be documented with the font or with the font documentation for the printer. There are also some printers (I seem to remember Brother printers) or additions for printers (Barcode JetCaps DIMMs for HP, IIRC) that do all the work for you: Just send the selection code and the data and the encoding is managed automagically. Another way to do it is to write application code that translates the data into PCL area fill commands to draw the barcode directly.+

  +

• fransTakeThisOuT at alt92.be asks:

  Dear Sirs
  I always have used PCL5 but now I need PCL6 for an older DOS program (foxbase). The printer is an HP LaserJet 2840 AIO and does not support PCL5. Just a few commands wil do: changing to ARIAL and back to COURIER and changing the pitch or height of the letter.
  Many thanks

  James Newton replies: Unlike PCL5 which is basically ASCII printable text with commands added via the escape, PCL6 is ALL commands. E.g. There is a command to print text. I am not aware of any method of supporting PCL6 from a DOS app, but I would love to be proven wrong.+

  +

• Thank you. I wanted to know if this behavior is normal.
  If I send :
  Esc-12345X@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL
  Esc&l8HEsc&s1CEsc&l27A
  Print something
  EscEEsc-12345X
  
  it ask for the paper size that is set on the device.
  
  If I exchange &l27A and &s1C:
  Esc-12345X@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL
  Esc&l8HEsc&l27AEsc&s1C
  Print something
  EscEEsc-12345X
  
  the printer shows on its display A3 paper needed if the tray is empty or e.g. A4 paper is in the tray. I wanted to know if this is normal for PCL printer, because in the reference manual is nothing mentioned about this.
  Thanks for your help
  Joerg James Newton replies: This is a function of the printer, above and beyond what language is used to describe the page.

  +

• Hi,This belongs to the &s1C problem. Thanks for the answer. To answer your question : It doesn't matter if I remove this command or if I set the size command before the &s1C command. In both cases it shows the required page size is missing. If I set SubPageSize to Auto on the device itself, than the device shows the correct page size is missing, even if the &s1C command is send before the &l27A command. Can someone test this on a HP printer? Best regards Joerg James Newton replies: I don't understand why you mentioned the &s1C command at all? The operation you see is as expected. The printer will look for the page size it has set as the default size to use as a replacement size unless you tell it SubPageSize=Auto.+

  +

• Hi, I have a problem. I'm sending an A3 pcl print job to the machine, the selected tray is out of paper, then the device shows the default paper size is missing ( set the default to 8 1/2 X 11 it shows this size ) but it should show A3 paper is missing. I figured out that in the pcl stream the Esc&s1C command is send before the page size Esc&l27A. If I change this all is fine. But the PCL Reference don't specified to send this command in an order. Thanks in advance. James Newton replies: When you say "change this" do you mean that you are now sending the &s1C after the page size? Or that you removed the &s1C? In any case, it sounds like the &s1C was interferring with the page size, and that is, very certainly, something that is not documented and quite interesting.+

  +

• mayotte1TakeThisOuT at cox.net asks:

  I am trying to get a Brother Laser to print from DOS type commands and it seems to accept the PCL5 commands but never prints the data. What does it take to get the data to actually print. All of the examples show ...data here... and I assume its just normal ascii data. Can someone please tell me if this is true.

  James Newton replies: It isn't clear from your question if a page actually comes out of the printer. If not, you need to send a page eject command. If so, then the only things I can suggest are that the text has been positioned off the printable area, an opaque white area fill has covered over the text, that the size has been set very small (e.g. 1 point) or that the pattern transparency or color have been set such that the text is not visable. Also, make sure you are using a printer that actually supports PCL directly. Many low end units are "WinPrinters" which depend on the host to render the PCL into a bitmap which is all the printer understands how to print.+

  +

• bc0113TakeThisOuT at list.ru asks:

  What does the flag '9' mean in PE command? The 'Introduction to HP-GL/2 Vector Graphics' says that the flag in PE command can be '>' '<' ':' '=' '7'. So I've found a prn file which contains 'PE9=' command. How could it be explained?

• Roland Stein asks:

  Hello, i have a problem with PCL. I try to set the cursor to a horizontal position to align amounts along the decimal comma (invoices). But i dont find any about this problem in the HP-Documentations or Internet. Ist there a way to align amounts correctly? Is it possible to set the horizontal position not only left?

  James Newton replies: See Right justification of text+

  +

• I have tried the Escr-4U,Esc*v2S to set foreground color on the HP Business Inkjet 1200, but that doesn't work. It doesn't speak the original PCL. Can anyone help, thanks ! James Newton replies: Consult the technical manual for that printer. It is available from HP.com. +

  +

  +

• I am trying to run a fix program to take out extra blank pages, which are added in an automated process for putting together a document from many different places in a database. Unfortunately, reorganizing the database to take out the extra Print resets and/or page breaks is not an option.
  
  On to the question, what, if any, is the difference in the position a cursor starts on the next page between a printer reset (ec E) followed by a cr / lf and a page break followed by cr / lf? James Newton replies: None as far as I know.+

  +

• infotechTakeThisOuT at precisioncompanies.com asks:

  http://www.hitachi-printingsolutions.us/techsup/manuals/DDP92/PCL.pdf UPDATE FOR YOUR SITE:
  FOUND AT:
  http://www.hitachi-printingsolutions.us/techsup/manuals/DDP92/PCL.pdf
  UPDATE:
  
  Pixel Placement
  ESC l [#] R This command determines how pixels are rendered in images.
  Two models are used for rendering pixels when an image is placed on paper:
  0 Grid Intersection Model
  1 Grid Centered Model
  This command can be invoked multiple times during a page. It has no effect except to switch the model being used for imaging.

  James Newton replies: Thank you for noting that. I believe that is actually a typographical error in the hitachi documentation. The HP docs list that as ESC * l # R which is more believable and seem to work on my printers. In either case, this command was missing from my list, so I appreciate your adding it.+

  +

• shredTakeThisOuT at mail.ru asks:

  Hi, thank you for the answer and forgive me but I'm again here with a question. I can't get a circle by the command CL in HP-GL/2 mode (nothing happens, nothing is printed). The listing INSP1PA2400,2500EW500,0,360; works but the listing INSP1PA2400,2500CL500; doesn't. I'm doing timing tests, so using one command instead of another can make a difference. Could you please help me one more time. Thank you. Dina Sukhanova

• shredTakeThisOuT at mail.ru asks:

  I have written my own file on PCL-language. It works: prints 800 lines and cirles in Hp-GL/2 mode, but only on one page. How can I add transferring to a new page. Actually it should be 10 pages. My task is to test different printers. Thank you in advance. Good luck in your job. Dina Sukhanova

  James Newton replies: Just exit HP-GL mode, add a formfeed character (ASCII 12) or any PCL page setup command.+

  +

• neelTakeThisOuT at netusa1.net asks:

  I need ability to use PCL for NUMBER OF COPIES in an MS-WORD document. Any help would be appreciated. I can't find anything from MS-WORD (other than the option when printing).

  James Newton replies: Any PCL command for number of copies that you place inside the document will probably be over-ridden by Word when it prints, but the command is esc&l#X.+

  +

• mesTakeThisOuT at jenkon.com asks:

  I am trying to ptint labels on a paper source that is 12 inches long. I can use most of the paper but at the bottem of the page it stik the last two inches. This then move that part of the page to the next page. Is thier a command that will allow me to set the page length to 12 inches or a set of command that will do this.

  James Newton replies: You should be able to send the ^es_c&l3A command to set the page size to legal (14") then avoid printing past 12".+

  +

• 
  
• plastic-surgeonTakeThisOuT at prodigy.net asks: " I am looking for the decimal conversion of the following codes:
  Esc*r3U ESC*v1S for Red text
  Esc*v0S EscE to reset back to black text
  Jerome Klein" James Newton replies: Esc is 27. The rest are listed in the ASCII chart.+

  +

• je.keatingTakeThisOuT at sfs-creative.co.uk asks: " Can I use PCL commands to submit to a printer a start command to use a specific Truetype font and then to stop and default back to another font. " James Newton replies: You can select a font to the secondary font and then use the shift in and shift out ASCII codes to switch back and forth.+

  +

• johnclaiborneTakeThisOuT at altec-inc.com asks: " When different symboles (Other than the original letters in the text) are being used for each letter.... What determines the substituted symboles ? " James Newton replies: The whim of the programmer. In most cases, it is based on the order of appearance of the symboles in the original print job.+

  +

• bottujmTakeThisOuT at agf.fr asks: " Hello,
  I got the sequence "1B 2A 70 2B 30 58" (Esc * 0x70 + 0x3058) in a PCL file.
  Can so tell me what is its meaning ?
  
  " James Newton replies: Refferring to the ASCII chart, 1B 2A 70 2B 30 58 is Esc*p+0X which is effectively a "NOP" or null operation. It does nothing. The *p command is for cursor positioning. The X at the end indicates that this will affect the X (horizontal) position of the cursor. The + sign means that the change will be relative to the current position and the value 0 changes the position by 0/300ths (or 0/600ths if you are at 600dpi, etc...) of an inch. So... no change. If it was Esc*p+1X then the cursor would advance to the right one pixel. Esc*p-1X would move the cursor one pixel to the left. Esc*p0X would move the cursor to the left edge of the printable area. As to why someone would add that in a PCL file? I would guess that the PCL was generated by a program and that the program was too dumb to know that it didn't have to "move the cursor zero places" when it happened to already be at the desired location.+

  +

• Maxx920TakeThisOuT at excite.com asks:

  I have this bat file I created using the code under Drawing Rectangles (PCL),when I run it I get this message '<-' is not recognized as an internal or external command operable program or batch file. Not sure what I am doing wrong, I have tried it with and w/o the *, putting a space before the * and after *, I even placed '>prn at the end of every line. I have window 2000 as my OS can this be the problem. (I also tried it not using the dos editor and got the same results.

  James Newton replies: Try this in your .BAT file:

  echo hello > prn
  

  then if that prints something to the printer, use the instructions at Using DOS EDIT on an IBM PC to set up test files to enter the PCL commands from the Drawing Rectangles page in place of the word "hello". Remember, the Ec character is not really and "E" and a "c". In DOS EDIT, it will appear as a left pointing arrow.+

  +

• gjanosTakeThisOuT at email.ro asks:

  Hello I have a PCL problem . I have a PCL file and I want to extract the text from it . Like : at position 10,10 I have : "This is the beginning" ..... 10,100 : "This is the end" Is this possible ? I am totally beginner in PCL , and as I saw the file doesn't contain the characters I want to print instead some graphical stuff.

  James Newton replies: Based on your description (especially the part about the text not being present in the file) I would guess that the fonts are being downloaded and that different symboles (other than the original letters in the text) are being used for each letter.

  This is very (VERY) difficult to extract text from. You might try http://www.pcltools.com +

  +

• rswamTakeThisOuT at rstover.com asks:

  I am trying to create invoices for 4si and 8000n printers. I am getting the invoice form/macro loaded and called correctly with data, but would like more. It seems I cannot select to load the form first and then the data, it always does it data then form. Can this be corrected? I would also like a watermark to print on top/below the form and data. Is the a way to get this done?
   

• phn737TakeThisOuT at hotmail.com asks: " What is the command to send pcl file to a printer but does not actually printout onto paper."

  James Newton replies: Answer: See the macro commands listed above: +

  +

Comments:

• darrenwTakeThisOuT at foliosociety.com

  Hi there, I am tring to print some boxes on my page and the printer (laserJet 5000N) does not seem to recognise the box commands: 048= p900x2100Y 049= c100a100b0P I convert the to char 27, the printer just prints "900x2100Y" and "100a100b0P". I have tried the GL/2 commands and they work although with the absolute positioning starts from bottom left hand corner. Thanks for your informative site.

  James Newton of Massmind replies: the correct commands are *p and *c. You are missing the "*".+

  +

• alphonse.jamesTakeThisOuT at nestgroup.net

  I working on printer driver. I am trying to print bitmap on HP 930c PRINTER. I would like to get esc sequence to print the same.
  [ I tried Esc * b # V sequence, but not working] .Please help

  James Newton of James Newton's Massmind replies: Try sending the following: esc*t300R followed by esc*b8WU3//@~@~ about 30 times. You should see a nice black and white pattern that looks something like:

   W W W W  WW  WW  W WWW  W WWW W       WWWWWWW W       WWWWWWW
  

  Basically this is a pattern of fine vertical lines that get thicker to the right. For more see the page on printing pictures in PCL.+

  +

• Hello, I wonder if right align is possible with PCL. For example, I have to print value of a variable which it,s length is dfiifernet each time.. James Newton replies: See justright.htm.+

  +

• stefano.mossaTakeThisOuT at tiscali.it " I'm gonna add this site to preferites, though I still haven't find precisely what I was searching for." +
• Brillant Page!
  Thanks for your time and effort!
  
  Gianni+
• infotechTakeThisOuT at precisioncompanies.com

  Please note on HP-GL/2:
  %0A - enter PCL mode (from HP-GL/2)...
  0 = Use "RTL" CAP and RTL palette
  1 = Use HP-GL/2 pen position & RTL palette
  2 = User "RTL" CAP and RTL palette
  3 = Use HP-GL/2 pen position & HP-GL/2 palette
  
  What is RTL? Is this PCL?
  
  Blake Turner, infotech@precisioncompanies.com

  +

  
  RTL is the Raster Transfer Language, a subset of PCL. Used to print bitmaps on printers that don't naturally use them (namely plotters which use pens and draw lines). +

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