PCL XL (PCL 6) tags, attributes and operators

PCL XL, the language of PCL 6, is a binary, object-based language unrelated to the escape sequences of PCL 5. A stream is a series of attributes (typed values, each with an attribute ID) followed by an operator that uses them, like a stack machine. HP’s own reference for it was not available to this page; the tag, attribute and enumeration values below are taken from Artifex’s GhostPDL, which implements PCL XL and marks the additions of protocol classes 2.0 and 3.0.

Stream header

A PCL XL job is entered from PJL (@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCLXL) and starts with one line of ASCII text, the stream header, ended by LF:

) HP-PCL XL;2;1;Comment, PCL-XL Generator

Part	Meaning
First byte	The binding: `'` (0x27) ASCII, `(` (0x28) binary with the most significant byte first, `)` (0x29) binary with the least significant byte first (the binding tags `pxt_beginASCII`, `pxt_beginBinaryMSB`, `pxt_beginBinaryLSB`). Ghostscript writes `)`.
`HP-PCL XL`	The stream class name.
`;2;1`	Protocol class and revision of the stream, such as `2;1`; Ghostscript writes `1;1`. The attribute and operator tables mark what classes 2.0 and 3.0 added.
`;`…	An optional comment, often the driver’s name.

After the header come binary tokens up to the end of the job, normally Esc%-12345X.

Data and attribute tags

Every value starts with a one-byte data type tag; multi-byte numbers then follow in the binding’s byte order. Arrays have a length after the tag (a ubyte or uint16 value, itself tagged) and then the elements; _xy types are two values and _box types four.

Tag	Type	Tag	Type
`C0`	`ubyte`	`C8`	`ubyte_array`
`C1`	`uint16`	`C9`	`uint16_array`
`C2`	`uint32`	`CA`	`uint32_array`
`C3`	`sint16`	`CB`	`sint16_array`
`C4`	`sint32`	`CC`	`sint32_array`
`C5`	`real32` (IEEE single)	`CD`	`real32_array`
`D0`–`D5`	`ubyte_xy`, `uint16_xy`, `uint32_xy`, `sint16_xy`, `sint32_xy`, `real32_xy`	`E0`–`E5`	`ubyte_box`, `uint16_box`, `uint32_box`, `sint16_box`, `sint32_box`, `real32_box`

Tag	Meaning
`F8`	Attribute ID follows as one byte (`attr_ubyte`): names the value just given.
`F9`	Attribute ID follows as two bytes (`attr_uint16`).
`FA`	Embedded data: a `uint32` length, then that many bytes (`dataLength`).
`FB`	Embedded data: a one-byte length, then the bytes (`dataLengthByte`).
`00`, `09`–`0D`, `20`	White space: NUL, HT, LF, VT, FF, CR, space; ignored.
`27`, `28`, `29`	Binding bytes, valid only at the start of the stream header.

For example, C0 02 F8 03 is the attribute ColorSpace (3) with the ubyte value 2 (eRGB), and D1 B0 04 D0 07 F8 4C is a Point (76) of 1200, 2000 in low-byte-first order.

Operators

Tag	Operator	Tag	Operator
`41`	`BeginSession`	`42`	`EndSession`
`43`	`BeginPage`	`44`	`EndPage`
`47`	`Comment`	`48`	`OpenDataSource`
`49`	`CloseDataSource`	`4F`	`BeginFontHeader`
`50`	`ReadFontHeader`	`51`	`EndFontHeader`
`52`	`BeginChar`	`53`	`ReadChar`
`54`	`EndChar`	`55`	`RemoveFont`
`56`	`SetCharAttributes` (2.0)	`5B`	`BeginStream`
`5C`	`ReadStream`	`5D`	`EndStream`
`5E`	`ExecStream`	`5F`	`RemoveStream` (2.0)
`60`	`PopGS`	`61`	`PushGS`
`62`	`SetClipReplace`	`63`	`SetBrushSource`
`64`	`SetCharAngle`	`65`	`SetCharScale`
`66`	`SetCharShear`	`67`	`SetClipIntersect`
`68`	`SetClipRectangle`	`69`	`SetClipToPage`
`6A`	`SetColorSpace`	`6B`	`SetCursor`
`6C`	`SetCursorRel`	`6D`	`SetHalftoneMethod`
`6E`	`SetFillMode`	`6F`	`SetFont`
`70`	`SetLineDash`	`71`	`SetLineCap`
`72`	`SetLineJoin`	`73`	`SetMiterLimit`
`74`	`SetPageDefaultCTM`	`75`	`SetPageOrigin`
`76`	`SetPageRotation`	`77`	`SetPageScale`
`78`	`SetPaintTxMode`	`79`	`SetPenSource`
`7A`	`SetPenWidth`	`7B`	`SetROP`
`7C`	`SetSourceTxMode`	`7D`	`SetCharBoldValue`
`7F`	`SetClipMode`	`80`	`SetPathToClip`
`81`	`SetCharSubMode`	`84`	`CloseSubPath`
`85`	`NewPath`	`86`	`PaintPath`
`91`	`ArcPath`	`93`	`BezierPath`
`95`	`BezierRelPath`	`96`	`Chord`
`97`	`ChordPath`	`98`	`Ellipse`
`99`	`EllipsePath`	`9B`	`LinePath`
`9D`	`LineRelPath`	`9E`	`Pie`
`9F`	`PiePath`	`A0`	`Rectangle`
`A1`	`RectanglePath`	`A2`	`RoundRectangle`
`A3`	`RoundRectanglePath`	`A8`	`Text`
`A9`	`TextPath`	`B0`	`BeginImage`
`B1`	`ReadImage`	`B2`	`EndImage`
`B3`	`BeginRastPattern`	`B4`	`ReadRastPattern`
`B5`	`EndRastPattern`	`B6`	`BeginScan`
`B8`	`EndScan`	`B9`	`ScanLineRel`
`BF`	`PassThrough` (PCL 5 inside PCL XL)

All other bytes from 0x40 to 0xBF are reserved operators and an error if met.

Attribute IDs

ID	Attribute	ID	Attribute
2	`PaletteDepth`	3	`ColorSpace`
4	`NullBrush`	5	`NullPen`
6	`PaletteData`	8	`PatternSelectID`
9	`GrayLevel`	10	`Lightness` (2.0)
11	`RGBColor`	12	`PatternOrigin`
13	`NewDestinationSize`	14	`PrimaryArray` (2.0)
15	`PrimaryDepth` (2.0)	16	`Saturation` (2.0)
17	`ColorimetricColorSpace` (2.0)	18	`XYChromaticities` (2.0)
19	`WhiteReferencePoint` (2.0)	20	`CRGBMinMax` (2.0)
21	`GammaGain` (2.0)	29	`AllObjectTypes` (3.0)
30	`TextObjects` (3.0)	31	`VectorObjects` (3.0)
32	`RasterObjects` (3.0)	33	`DeviceMatrix`
34	`DitherMatrixDataType`	35	`DitherOrigin`
36	`MediaDestination`	37	`MediaSize`
38	`MediaSource`	39	`MediaType`
40	`Orientation`	41	`PageAngle`
42	`PageOrigin`	43	`PageScale`
44	`ROP3`	45	`TxMode`
47	`CustomMediaSize`	48	`CustomMediaSizeUnits`
49	`PageCopies`	50	`DitherMatrixSize`
51	`DitherMatrixDepth`	52	`SimplexPageMode`
53	`DuplexPageMode`	54	`DuplexPageSide`
65	`ArcDirection`	66	`BoundingBox`
67	`DashOffset`	68	`EllipseDimension`
69	`EndPoint`	70	`FillMode`
71	`LineCapStyle`	72	`LineJoinStyle`
73	`MiterLength`	74	`LineDashStyle`
75	`PenWidth`	76	`Point`
77	`NumberOfPoints`	78	`SolidLine`
79	`StartPoint`	80	`PointType`
81	`ControlPoint1`	82	`ControlPoint2`
83	`ClipRegion`	84	`ClipMode`
98	`ColorDepth`	99	`BlockHeight`
100	`ColorMapping`	101	`CompressMode`
102	`DestinationBox`	103	`DestinationSize`
104	`PatternPersistence`	105	`PatternDefineID`
107	`SourceHeight`	108	`SourceWidth`
109	`StartLine`	110	`PadBytesMultiple` (2.0)
111	`BlockByteLength` (2.0)	115	`NumberOfScanLines`
120	`ColorTreatment`	129	`CommentData`
130	`DataOrg`	134	`Measure`
136	`SourceType`	137	`UnitsPerMeasure`
139	`StreamName`	140	`StreamDataLength`
141	`PCLSelectFont`	143	`ErrorReport`
145	`VUExtension`	146	`VUDataLength`
147–152	`VUAttr1`–`VUAttr6` (vendor-unique)	161	`CharAngle`
162	`CharCode`	163	`CharDataSize`
164	`CharScale`	165	`CharShear`
166	`CharSize`	167	`FontHeaderLength`
168	`FontName`	169	`FontFormat`
170	`SymbolSet`	171	`TextData`
172	`CharSubModeArray`	173	`WritingMode`
175	`XSpacingData`	176	`YSpacingData`
177	`CharBoldValue`

Numbers not listed are unassigned in the published protocol classes.

Enumerated values

Attribute	Values
`ColorSpace`	0 none, 1 Gray, 2 RGB, 6 sRGB
`ColorDepth`	0 1 bit, 1 4 bits, 2 8 bits
`ColorMapping`	0 direct pixel, 1 indexed pixel
`CompressMode`	0 none, 1 RLE, 2 JPEG, 3 delta row
`DataOrg`	0 binary high byte first, 1 binary low byte first
`SourceType`	0 default data source
`Measure`	0 inch, 1 millimetre, 2 tenths of a millimetre
`ErrorReport`	0 none, 1 back channel, 2 error page, 3 both, 4 back channel without stopping, 5 error page without stopping, 6 both without stopping
`Orientation`	0 portrait, 1 landscape, 2 reverse portrait, 3 reverse landscape, 4 default
`MediaSize`	0 Letter, 1 Legal, 2 A4, 3 Executive, 4 Ledger, 5 A3, 6 COM-10 envelope, 7 Monarch envelope, 8 C5 envelope, 9 DL envelope, 10 JIS B4, 11 JIS B5, 12 B5 envelope, 13 B5, 14 Japanese postcard, 15 Japanese double postcard, 16 A5, 17 A6, 18 JIS B6, 19 JIS 8K, 20 JIS 16K, 21 JIS Executive, 96 default; 201–224 newer sizes (B6 JIS, C6 envelope, 8K, 16K, 12×18, 13×19, SRA3, SRA4, 11×14 and others). `MediaSize` may also be given as a name string.
`MediaSource`	0 default, 1 auto select, 2 manual feed, 3 multi-purpose tray, 4 upper cassette, 5 lower cassette, 6 envelope tray, 7 third cassette; higher numbers device-specific
`MediaDestination`	0 default, 1 face-down bin, 2 face-up bin, 3 job offset bin
`MediaType`	given as a name string; 0 default
`SimplexPageMode`	0 front side
`DuplexPageMode`	0 horizontal binding, 1 vertical binding
`DuplexPageSide`	0 front, 1 back
`ArcDirection`	0 clockwise, 1 counter-clockwise
`FillMode`, `ClipMode`	0 non-zero winding, 1 even-odd
`ClipRegion`	0 interior, 1 exterior
`LineCapStyle`	0 butt, 1 round, 2 square, 3 triangle
`LineJoinStyle`	0 mitre, 1 round, 2 bevel, 3 none
`TxMode`	0 opaque, 1 transparent
`PatternPersistence`	0 temporary, 1 page, 2 session
`DitherMatrixDataType`, `PointType`	0 ubyte, 1 sbyte, 2 uint16, 3 sint16
Dither matrix	−1 downloaded, 0 device best
`WritingMode`	0 horizontal, 1 vertical
`CharSubModeArray`	0 no substitution, 1 vertical substitution
`ColorTreatment`	0 none, 1 vivid, 2 screen match, 3 text, 4 out of gamut, 5 CIE Lab match 1, 6 CIE Lab match 2
Halftone method (3.0)	0 high LPI, 1 medium LPI, 2 low LPI; adaptive halftoning 0 off, 1 on
Colour trapping (3.0)	0 off, 1 max, 2 normal, 3 light; neutral axis 0 toner black, 1 process black

Example

The start of a session, in low-byte-first binding: measure in inches, 600 units per inch, errors on the back channel, then BeginSession.

C0 00 F8 86             Measure = 0 (inch)
D1 58 02 58 02 F8 89    UnitsPerMeasure = 600, 600
C0 01 F8 8F             ErrorReport = 1 (back channel)
41                      BeginSession

Sources

GhostPDL gdevpxop.h – every tag byte: binding, operators, data types, attribute and embedded data tags
GhostPDL gdevpxat.h – attribute IDs, with the 2.0 and 3.0 additions
GhostPDL gdevpxen.h – enumerated values
GhostPDL gdevpxut.c – the PJL and stream header the PCL XL driver writes

.PCL File Format – PCL XL (PCL 6)