- Hewlett-Packard LaserJet User Guide

176 Appendix C Printer commands ENWW
Understanding PCL 6 and PCL 5e printer command syntax
Before using printer commands, compare these characters:
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).
Combining escape sequences
Escape sequences can be combined into one escape sequence string. There are three
important rules to follow when combining code:
1 The first two characters after the
? character (the parameterized and group characters)
must be the same in all of the commands to be combined.
2 When combining escape sequences, change the uppercase (termination) character in each
individual escape sequence to lower case.
3 The 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
Lowercase l:
l
Uppercase O:
O
Number one:
1
Number 0:
0
Escape character (begins
escape sequence)
Value field (contains both
alpha and numeric characters)
Parameterized
character
Termination character
(uppercase)
Group
character