PCL Font Selection
PCL printer commands for selecting fonts appear in the PCL Typeface List
(see Chapter 5, “Special Tasks”). An example from this list is shown below.
Notice the two variable boxes for symbol set “?(” and point size:
If these variables are not filled in, the printer will use defaults. For
example, if you want a symbol set that contains line-draw characters, select
the 10U (PC-8) or 12U (PC-850) symbol set. Other common symbol set codes
are listed in Table A-2. Order the PCL/PJL Technical Reference Package if
you require symbol set charts or want more information.
Point size (or pitch) is another variable. In the following example, “12U” has
been filled in for the PC-850 symbol set and “12” for the point size. This
printer command would select a 12-point Univers Medium font.
?(12U?(s1p12v0s0b4148T
Setup Strings
Some software applications, like older versions of Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS,
require setup strings with PCL printer commands. In the following example,
the Lotus escape character (\027) is shown. This setup string is used to
change the orientation to landscape and to select the small Line Printer font.
\027&l1O\027(s0p16.67h8.5v0s0b0T
Frequently used PCL printer commands are shown in Table A-3.
Code Symbol Set Code Symbol Set
8U HP Roman-8 Default Symbol Set 19U Windows 3.1 Latin 1
10U IBM Layout (PC-8) (code page 437) 9E Windows 3.1 Latin 2 (commonly used in Eastern Europe)
12U IBM Layout for Europe (PC-850) (code page 850) 5T Windows 3.1 Latin 5 (commonly used in Turkey)
8M Math-8 579L Wingdings Font
Table A-2 Common Symbol Set Values
Common PCL Printer Commands A-3
