Plotter control sequences

Below, you will find an overview of the HPGL commands that I know of. I used the manual of the PrintGL command to retrieve these. The list is reasonably complete, but if you know of more commands, don't hesitate to inform me (use the 'contact' from the navigator frame).

AA x,y,arc [,chord_angle] Arc absolute AA moves the pen through an arc, starting at the current position, with the pen in the current up/down state.
AP Automatic pen pickup
AR dx_center,dy_center,arc_angle [,chord_angle] Arc relative AR moves the pen through an arc, starting at the current position, with the pen in the current up/down state.
AS Acceleration select
CA char-set Designate alternate character set See HP-GL Character Sets for a list of character sets.
CI radius [,chord_angle] Circle CI draws a circle centered at the current position. The current up/down state and position are unchanged by a CI command.
CP [spaces ,lines] Character plot CP moves the pen by character spaces (+ is along the text) and lines (+ is up), using the current up/down state. Using no parameters is the same as a carriage return/line feed.
CS character_set Designate standard character set See HP-GL Character Sets for a list of character sets.
DF Default values This sets default values for the following commands: CA, CS, DR, DT, ES, FT, IW, LO, LT, PA, PT, SC, SM, SL, SR, SS, TL.
DI [run , rise] Absolute character direction DI sets the baseline direction for labels. The default is 1,0.
DR [run ,rise] Relative character direction DR sets the baseline direction for labels. Run and rise are a percentage of P2X-P1X and P2Y-P1Y. The default is 1,0.
DTt Define label terminator The label terminator ends an LB command. The default is ASCII 003.
EA x_opp_cornr ,y_opp_cornr Edge rectangle absolute EA draws a rectangle defined by the current position and the parameters. The pen position and up/down state are unchanged.
EP Edge polygon EP draws the current polygon edge. Any pen up/down used in creating the polygon is respected in drawing the edge.
ER dx_opp_cornr,dy_opp_cornr Edge rectangle relative ER draws a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged.
ES [ space [,line]] Extra space ES adds to the space between characters and lines. The units are in character cells (1.5*width, 2*height). The allowed range is -1 to 1. -.3333 causes characters to touch.
EW radius,start_angle,sweep_angle [,chord_angle] Edge wedge EW draws a wedge centered at the current position. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged.
FP Fill polygon FP fills the current polygon. Pen up/down commands used in creating the polygon are ignored. There is a limit of 2000 fill line segments per polygon.
FT [type [,spacing [,angle]]] Fill type These are the fill types.
  1. solid lines spaced at half the pen thickness (see PT command)
  2. unidirectional solid lines spaced at half the pen thickness
  3. lines at the specified spacing
  4. cross hatched lines at the specified spacing
  5. type ignored
A spacing parameter of 0 sets the spacing to 1% of the P1-P2 diagonal. Spacing is in x axis units (this is only relevant if the axes have different scaling). Cross hatched lines are at angle + 90.
IN Initialize
IP [p1x,p1y [,p2x,p2y]] Sets scaling points P1 and P2 IP sets the scaling points (P1 and P2) in plotter units. P1 and P2 are used by several commands to help with size independent plots.
IW [x_lower_left, y_lower_left, x_upper_right, y_upper_right] Input window IW sets a clipping window in plotter units. With no parameters, the clipping window is turned off.
LB..text..terminator Label Labels use the current character set, based on CA, CS, SA, and SS commands. See HP-GL Character Sets for font specifics.
LO [ position_number ] Label origin LO sets the label origins, shown below. For positions 4..9 and 14..19 the label buffer is limited to 150 characters. The default is 1. 
  13                     16                      19
     3......  .......  ...6...  .......  ......9
     .     .  .     .  .     .  .     .  .     .
  12 2     .  .     .  .  5  .  .     .  .     8 18
     .     .  .     .  .     .  .     .  .     .
     1......  .......  ...4...  .......  ......7
  11                     14                      17
LT [pattern_number [,pattern_length]] Line type Pattern length is a percentage of the P1-P2 diagonal with a default of 4% and a minimum of 4 dots for types 1 and 2 and 16 dots for other types. Negative (adaptive) line types from the HP 7550 are supported. 
 no parameter  solid            1  .               .
                                2  ________        ________
 0             dots at          3  ____________    ____________
               endpoints        4  ____________  . ____________  .
               only             5  __________  __  __________  __
                                6  ______  __  __  ______  __  __
                                7  __________  . . __________  . .
                                8  ______  . __  . ______  . __  .
PA [x ,y] [,x ,y] ... Plot absolute PA sets absolute mode and optionally moves the pen in the current up/down state.
PD [x ,y] [,x ,y] ... Pen down PD sets the pen down and optionally moves it with the current absolute/relative mode.
PG [i] New page PG starts a new plot. The parameter is ignored.
PM i Polygon mode
  • PM 0 starts polygon mode. The current position is the first point in the polygon.
  • PM 1 starts a new subpolygon. The position after the next pen movement is the first point in the subpolygon. The first pen move of a subpolygon is done with the pen up, regardless of the current up/down status.
  • PM 2 ends polygon mode.
PM 1 and PM 2 close the current subpolygon with the current pen up/down state.
The following commands are accepted in polygon mode: PM, PA, PR, PU, PD, AA, AR, CI (circles are automatically prefixed and suffixed by PM 1), and IN. The polygon buffer is limited to 1000 data points.
PR [dx, dy] [,dx,dy] ... Plot relative PR sets relative mode and optionally moves the pen in the current up/down state.
PT [thickness] Pen thickness PT specifies twice the line spacing used in solid fills and may be from 0 to 5.0 mm. It is reset to .3 mm with each SP command.
PU [x,y] [,x,y] ... Pen up PU raises the pen and optionally moves it with the current absolute/relative mode.
RA x_opp_cornr,y_opp_cornr Shade rectangle absolute RA fills a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The rectangle edge is not drawn.
RO [angle] Rotate coordinate system RO or RO0 sets up a normal coordinate system. RO90, the only other allowed value, sets up a system that is rotated 90 degrees. The type of rotation depends on the paper size. This command does not change the scaling points, so an IP command is useful after an RO.
The HP 7475 specifies two different meanings for RO90 depending on the paper size (A/A4 or B/A3). 
Small paper rotation:              Large paper rotation:

  RO 0             RO 90             RO 0             RO 90

    y --------    0,0 -------- y     0,0 -------- y    y --------
     |        |      |        |         |        |      |        |
     |        |      |        |         |        |      |        |
  0,0 -------- x    x --------          |        |      |        |
                                        |        |      |        |
                                        |        |      |        |
                                        |        |      |        |
                                       x --------    0,0 -------- x
RR dx_opp_cornr,dy_opp_cornr Shade rectangle relative RR fills a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The rectangle edge is not drawn.
SA Select alternate character set SA specifies the alternate character set as current. The alternate character set is chosen with CA.
SC [xmin ,xmax ,ymin ,ymax]
SC xmin,xrto,ymin,yrto,2 		Scaling SC sets user units. The units are defined by user values for P1 (xmin,ymin) and P2 (xmax,ymax) or P1 and the ratio of plotter to user units. Using no parameters turns scaling off, and subsequent drawing is done in plotter units (1/1016 inch).
SI [width ,height] Character size absolute SI sets the capital letter box width and height in centimeters. Letter spacing is 1.5 * width and line spacing is 2 * height. Using no parameters with B or A3 paper is the same as SI.285,.375 and any other paper is the same as SI.187,.269.
SL [tan_angle] Character slant SL sets the character slant. The parameter is interpreted as the tangent of the angle from vertical. Using no parameter sets the slant to 0 degrees.
SM[c] Symbol mode SM sets symbol mode, which centers the symbol mode character at any plotted point. Any character from ASCII 033 to 127 except ";" sets symbol mode. Any other character turns symbol mode off.
SP pen_number Select pen SP selects a pen. Using 0 or no parameter stores the pen without selecting a new pen. This is usually done at the end of a plot.
SR [width ,height] Character size relative SR sets the capital letter box width and height as a percentage of P2X-P1X and P2Y-P1Y. Letter spacing is 1.5 * width and line spacing is 2 * height. Using no parameters is the same as SR.75,1.5.
SS Select standard character set SS specifies the standard character set as current. The standard character set is chosen with CS.
TL [positive_length [,negative length]] Tick length TL sets the tick lengths used by XT and YT. The parameters are lengths above and below the current position as a percentage of P2Y-P1Y for x- axis ticks and a percentage of P2X-P1X for y-axis ticks.
UC [[pen_control ,] x_delta ,y_delta] ... User character UC specifies a user defined character. The pen control number is 99 for pen down or -99 for pen up. Pen movements are relative, with x_delta in units of 1/4 the character width and y_delta in units of 1/8 the character height.
WG radius ,start_angle ,sweep_angle [,chord_angle] Shade wedge WG fills a wedge centered at the current position. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The wedge edge is not drawn.
XT X-axis tick XT draws a vertical line, with length specified by the TL command, at the current position. The pen position and up/down state are unchanged.
YT Y-axis tick YT draws a horizontal line, with length specified by the TL command, at the current position. The pen position and up/down state are unchanged.

Page created around 1997 and

Page equipped with FroogleBuster technology