EN
What are Printer Commands? 1-3
What are Printer Commands?
PCL printer commands provide access to printer features. There are
four general types of HP printer language commands:
z
control codes
z
PCL commands
z
HP-GL/2 commands
z
PJL commands
Control Codes
A control code is a character that initiates a printer function, for
example Carriage Return (CR), Line Feed (LF), Form Feed (FF), etc.
PCL Commands
PCL commands provide access to the printer’s PCL control structure.
The PCL structure controls all of the printer’s features except those
used for vector graphics, which are controlled by the HP-GL/2
commands.
PCL printer commands consist of two or more characters. The first
character is always the ASCII escape character, identified by the
?
symbol.
?
is a special control code which identifies the subsequent
string of characters as a printer command. As the printer monitors
incoming data from a computer, it “looks” for this character. When this
character appears, the printer reads it and its associated characters
as a command to perform and not as data to print.
Note
PCL printer commands (other than single-character control codes)
are also referred to as escape sequences. The terms printer
command
and escape sequence are used interchangeably
throughout this manual.
Once a PCL command sets a parameter, that parameter remains set
until that PCL command is repeated with a new value, or the printer is
reset to its user default environment. For example, if you send the
printer a command to set line spacing to 3 lines/inch, each page
prints 3 lines/inch until the printer receives a different Line Spacing
command, or the printer is reset.
Summary of Contents for LaserJet 4100
Page 1: ...Part I Click here to access Part II on hp com ...
Page 2: ......
Page 26: ...Contents 14 EN ...
Page 44: ...2 10 The Page EN ...
Page 54: ...3 10 The Print Environment EN ...
Page 70: ...4 16 PCL Job Control Commands EN ...
Page 80: ...5 10 Page Control Commands EN Figure 5 3 Changing Print Direction on a Page ...
Page 82: ...5 12 Page Control Commands EN Figure 5 4 Text Area Within the Page ...
Page 110: ...6 16 Cursor Positioning EN ...
Page 120: ...7 10 Fonts EN Figure 7 11 Bitmap Character Figure 7 12 Scalable Character ...
Page 122: ...7 12 Fonts EN ...
Page 152: ...8 30 PCL Font Selection EN ...
Page 166: ...9 14 Font Management EN ...
Page 182: ...10 16 User Defined Symbol Sets EN ...
Page 237: ...EN Character Descriptor Formats 11 55 Figure 11 5 Class 2 Character Data ...
Page 240: ...11 58 Soft Font Creation EN Figure 11 6 Portrait Character Example ...
Page 241: ...EN Character Descriptor Formats 11 59 Figure 11 7 Landscape Character Example ...
Page 270: ...13 4 The PCL Print Model EN Figure 13 3 Effect of Transparency Modes on Images ...
Page 276: ...13 10 The PCL Print Model EN Figure 13 4 Shading Patterns ...
Page 277: ...EN Pattern ID Area Fill ID Command 13 11 Figure 13 5 Cross Hatch Patterns ...
Page 290: ...13 24 The PCL Print Model EN ...
Page 297: ...EN Pattern ID Area Fill ID Command 14 7 Figure 14 1 Shading Patterns ...
Page 298: ...14 8 PCL Rectangular Area Fill Graphics EN Figure 14 2 Cross hatch Patterns ...
Page 341: ...EN Raster Graphics Example 15 33 Figure 15 11Example of Raster Graphic Image Data ...
Page 342: ...15 34 Raster Graphics EN ...
Page 370: ...16 28 Status Readback EN ...