HP PCL/PJL reference - Printer Job Language Technical Reference Manual
6-20 Environment Commands EN
PAGEPROTECT Page protection configuration. The 
page protection feature reserves a 
block of printer memory to prevent 
printer overrun errors (error 21) when 
formatting very dense or complex 
images, especially HP-GL/2 images. 
The variable can be set to any legal 
value at any time, regardless of the 
current amount of free memory or the 
currently set resolution. When a job is 
sent, if there is not enough memory to 
print correctly with the current resolution 
and page protection configuration, the 
system temporarily overrides the 
resolution and/or page protect values to 
run the job. In these cases, the job may 
be printed at 300 dpi without page 
protection. When the page protection 
status is changed, memory is 
reconfigured and all downloaded fonts, 
PCL macros, and PostScript 
dictionaries are lost (however, no I/O 
data is lost). Refer to “Commands that 
Affect Printer Memory” in Appendix A.
OFF, LETTER, 
LEGAL, A4, AUTO, 
ON
PALETTESOURCE Specifies how color settings are 
derived, either from the device's 
control-panel settings or through the 
software application.
DEVICE, 
SOFTWARE
PAPER Physical paper (and envelope) sizes. 
Letter, Legal, Ledger, A5, A4, A3, 
Executive, JISB4, and JISB5 are paper 
sizes; Com10, C5, DL, Monarch, and 
B5 are envelope sizes; JPOST and 
JPOSTD are Japanese postcard sizes; 
CUSTOM is for feeding different sizes, 
but it varies with the printer: the 
LaserJet 4P/4MP printers interpret 
CUSTOM as odd sizes, such as 3 x 5 
cards and labels; the LaserJet 4V/4MV 
printers interpret CUSTOM as 11.7" x 
17.7" paper.
LETTER, LEGAL, 
A5, A4, 
EXECUTIVE, 
LEDGER, A3, 
COM10, C5, DL, 
MONARCH, B5, 
CUSTOM, JISB4, 
JISB5, JPOST, 
JPOSTD 
and others 
(see Appendix A)
General PJL Environment Variables (continued)
Variable Description
Sample Value 
Range










