In digital printing, a page description language (PDL) is a computer language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap (or generally raster graphics). An overlapping term is printer control language, which includes Hewlett-Packard's

Printer Command Language Printer Command Language, more commonly referred to as PCL, is a page description language (PDL) developed by Hewlett-Packard as a printer protocol and has become a ''de facto'' industry standard. Originally developed for early inkjet print ...

(PCL).

PostScript PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, ...

is one of the most noted page description languages. The

markup language Markup language refers to a text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship between its parts. Markup is often used to control the display of the document ...

adaptation of the PDL is the page description markup language. Page description languages are text (human-readable) or binary data streams, usually intermixed with text or graphics to be printed. They are distinct from graphics application programming interfaces (APIs) such as GDI and

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve ha ...

that can be called by software to generate graphical output.

Notable examples

Various page description languages exist: * AFP, Advanced Function Presentation ( IBM) * Apple Raster, formerly known as URF, used by the AirPrint protocol. * Canon GARO, Graphic Arts language with Raster Operations (for large format printers), based on Hewlett-Packard PCL3GUI / RTL and CPCA job description language. * Common Ground page definition language * CPCL, Comtec Printer Control Language (now Zebra) * DPL, Datamax Printer Language (now

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

) * DTPL, Datamax Ticket Printer Language * DVI, Device Independent, output from TeX * E411, Emulation 411, for Ticketing and Flight Strip (ATC) systems (IER) * EPL, Eltron Programming Language (now Zebra) * Envoy page description language ( WordPerfect) *

ESC/P ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers, and is still wide ...

, Epson Standard Code for Printers, simple language mainly used in dot matrix printers * ESC/P2, an expanded version of ESC/P * ESC/Page, Epson Standard Code for Page Printer, a page description language (distinct from ESC/P) used in a number of Epson laser printers, especially Japanese models * ESC/POS, Epson Standard Code for

POS POS, Pos or PoS may refer to: Linguistics * Part of speech, the role that a word or phrase plays in a sentence * Poverty of the stimulus, a linguistic term used in language acquisition and development * Sayula Popoluca (ISO 639-3), an indigenous l ...

printers * FGL, Friendly Ghost Language (Boca Systems) printers * Fingerprint, a programming language, Direct Protocol is subset of Fingerprint ( Intermec) * HP-GL and HP-GL/2, geometric language introduced by Hewlett-Packard for pen plotters, still in use today for technical drawings * Interpress (

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from St ...

) * IJPDS, Ink Jet Printer Data Stream (

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

) * IPDS, Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IBM) * IGP/PGL, Printronix Graphics Language * IPL, Intermec Printer Language, a programming language for Intermec printers (now a subsidiary of

) * KPDL, Kyocera Page Description Language * LCDS/Metacode, a print stream format used in older high-speed printers (

) *

MODCA MO:DCA (Mixed Object:Document Content Architecture) is an IBM compound document format for text and graphics elements in a document. The 'Mixed Object' refers to the fact that an MO:DCA file can contain multiple types of objects, including text, i ...

, Mixed Object Document Content Architecture (IBM) * MTPL, Mannesmann Tally Printer Language *

PCL PCL may refer to: Aviation *FAP Captain David Abenzur Rengifo International Airport, near Pucallpa, Peru (IATA code: PCL) *Pilot-controlled lighting, a system by which aircraft pilots can control the lighting of runways and taxiways via radio cont ...

, Printer Command Language ( Hewlett-Packard) * PDF, Portable Document Format ( Adobe Systems), now ISO 32000 *

( Adobe Systems) * PPDS, Personal Printer Data Stream * RPCS, Refined Printing Command Stream ( Ricoh) * RTL (Raster Transfer Language, also known as PCL3GUI). Raster graphic command subset of Hewlett-Packard HP-GL/2, similar to PCL. * Star Line Mode, variant of ESC/POS used by

Star Micronics is a Japanese multinational electronic components and printer manufacturing company headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan. It was founded in 1947 as a precision processor of miniature components, later expanding into automatic lathes, printers, mi ...

printers * SPL, Samsung Printer Language * SVG, an XML-based graphics description language primarily developed for the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

* Canon SG Raster (Swift Graphics Raster for large format printers), based on Hewlett-Packard PCL3GUI / RTL and IVEC (XML formatted job description language) * TSPL/TSPL2, Taiwan Semiconductor Printing/Programming Language (

TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC; also called Taiwan Semiconductor) is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the world's most valuable semiconductor company, the world' ...

) * TTP, print language by Swecoin for kiosk printers (now Zebra) * UFR (Ultra Fast Rendering), a proprietary language (Canon) * XES, Xerox Escape Sequence * XPS, XML Paper Specification introduced in Windows Vista (

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

) * ZJS, ZjStream Page Description Language (Zenographics) * ZPL,

Zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

Programming Language

References

{{Reflist

External links

Undocumented PrintingPrinter MIB Interpreters Language Families
��— contains example for PPDS
PPDS Escape codes
Computer printers Computer printing

Notable examples

See also

References

External links