Printer Commands & Controls

Cognitive’s C-Series printers are smart in they way they transfer data.  C-Series printers send a description of the printed page and its appearance, which results in a significantly smaller volume of information to exchange between the host computer and the barcode printer.  To transfer this data, Cognitive offers various Page (or Print) Description Languages (PDL).  The PDLs available with our C-Series printer line provide users with the ability to describe textual and graphic elements in a higher level representation other than ‘dots’ or a bitmap.  However most of these same PDLs allow the processing of ‘graphic file formats’ typically stored as files on modern host machines (examples: .bmp, .pcx, .pdf, …, etc.)

• CPL (Cognitive Printer Language): is Printable-ASCII Word based and line-oriented PDL, command and control language for all Cognitive Printers.  A typical print image definition formatted in CPL is composed of;  1) A Header line – defining the size and number of copies to print,  2) Various Text and Graphic Element commands lines – specifying fonts, sizes and placement of these printable image components, and  3) An End statement – instructing the Print Engine to run and create the image on printable media.  To learn more about Cognitive Solutions CPL:      or contact Cognitive Solutions at:

Cognitive C-Series printers offer the ability to process other barcode manufacturers PDLs.  The standard name given to this mixed processing of other companies Printer Language implementations is called ‘Emulations’.  Depending on the printer’s software architecture, the native Printer Language interpreter may be temporarily replaced with another printer company’s interpreter function or ‘emulation’. 

• Emulations
• PCL® (Hewlett-Packard’s Printer Control Language): is primarily a binary ‘Esc’-character sequenced PDL, containing various command and control language elements that vary in support across HP’s Printer models.  PCL is typically processed encapsulated by a PJL (Printer Job Language) set of commands.  In addition, PCL jobs allow the processing of various run-time downloadable fonts that may be included with each job as well as execution of graphics language commands of the HP-GL (HP’s - Graphics Language).


• ZPL (Zebra Printer Language): is primarily a Printable-ASCII based and line-oriented PDL, command and control language for some of Zebra’s Printer models.  Each line of ZPL typical begins with a ‘^’ character followed by one or two characters then command associated parameters to represent a particular print imaging operation. 


• EPL (Eltron Printer Language): is primarily a Printable-ASCII based and line-oriented PDL, command and control language for some of Zebra’s (previously Eltron) Printer models.  Each line of EPL typical begins with a Single character or Double character pair followed by command associated parameters to represent a particular print imaging operation. 
• SPL (Sato Printer Language): is primarily a Printable-ASCII based PDL, command and control language for most of SATO’s Printer models.  Each command element of SPL begins with a single ‘Esc’ character followed by Printable-ASCII command associated parameters to represent a particular print imaging operation. 
• DPL (DataMax Printer Language): is an ASCII based PDL, command and control language for most of DataMax’s Printer models.  Each command element of DPL begins with a single ‘<Stx>’ (Start-of-Transmission) character followed by Printable-ASCII denoting a command followed by associated parameters to represent a particular print imaging operation. 

• Data Direct is Cognitive CPL’s pre-storable input-data sorting feature.  This capability is programmable and supported by a limited set of ‘Stored-Format’ related commands that presume the input data to be a stream of characters organized in a particular fixed format.  Using a preloaded or ‘Stored-Format’ label some ‘Data Direct’ commands can be added to this definition to sort through input data and populate the ‘Stored-Format’-variable(s) with the appropriate values after which the resulting label is then processed and imaged automatically.  This feature is advantageous where applications are required to pull-replace legacy printers.
• Host Feedback is one of many Cognitive CPL features.  This bidirectional status query capability provides print job completion verifications and the ability for a host computer system to query the printer’s state of operation at any point when the printer is powered on.