HP PCL/PJL reference (PCL 5 Printer Language) - Technical Reference Manual Part I
EN Horizontal Cursor Positioning Control Codes 6-9
BS - Backspace 
Moves the current active position (CAP) left a distance equal to the 
width of the last printed symbol or space. If the active position is 
already at the left margin, no action is taken. If the cursor is currently 
beyond the right margin, BS positions the cursor just to the left of the 
right margin. When using fixed pitch fonts, the Backspace distance is 
defined by the current print pitch (HMI setting).
When using proportionally-spaced fonts, a single Backspace moves 
back to center the overstrike character. After printing the overstriking 
character, the cursor returns to its position prior to the Backspace. 
Multiple backspaces each move back the distance of the last printed 
symbol or space. For example, if “world” was printed with a 
proportional font and then 5 backspaces were performed, the 
distance moved back would be five times the width of the “d.”
HT - Horizontal Tab 
Moves the current active position (CAP) to the next tab stop on the 
current line. The tab stops are at the left margin and every 8th column 
between the left margin and the right bound of the logical page. If the 
new horizontal position crosses the right margin, the new horizontal 
position is set to the right margin. If the current HMI value is 0, the 
command is ignored. 










