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Inside This Manual
What You Can Learn From This Manual
Hewlett-Packard has developed a standard set of printer features for
use in all HP printers. Printer features are accessed through the
corresponding commands of Hewlett-Packard’s PCL language. This
manual describes the PCL 5 printer language. This includes
descriptions of the commands available for Hewlett-Packard PCL 5
LaserJet printers and the basic requirements of PCL language
programming. With the release of new LaserJet family printers there
are new features added which supplement the existing PCL base set.
Features of future printer releases are not covered in this document.
The new features are described in the latest version of the PCL 5
Comparison Guide. Programmers should familiarize themselves with
the information provided in the PCL 5 Comparison Guide in addition
to the information in this document.
Experienced Users
This manual was written for people with some programming
experience. Many of the concept discussions assume some
programming knowledge.
When writing a PCL language program, you should know the PCL
language concepts and commands presented in this manual, and
should be aware of the differences in implementation of the PCL 5
printer language for the various HP LaserJet printers, as described in
the PCL 5 Comparison Guide.
Non-technical Users
Many software applications (word processing software, spreadsheets,
etc.) allow you to embed printer commands as escape sequences in
the body of your documents. This manual presents the full syntax and
explanation of all the commands supported by PCL 5 LaserJet
printers. These commands enable you to take advantage of the
LaserJet printer’s advanced feature set.