grolbp(1) General Commands Manual grolbp(1)

# [Name](#Name)

grolbp - *groff* output driver for Canon CaPSL printers

# [Synopsis](#Synopsis)

`grolbp` \[**-l**] \[**-c num-copies**] \[**-F font-directory**] \[**-o orientation**] \[**-p paper-format**] \[**-w width**] \[*file* ...]

`grolbp` \[**--copies=num-copies**] \[**--fontdir=font-directory**] \[**--landscape**] \[**--linewidth=width**] \[**--orientation=orientation**] \[**--papersize=paper-format**] \[*file* ...]

`grolbp` **-h**

`grolbp` **--help**

`grolbp` **-v**

`grolbp` **--version**

# [Description](#Description)

This GNU *roff* output driver translates the output of [*troff*(1)](/man/os/groff/troff.1) into a CaPSL and VDM format suitable for Canon LBP-4 and LBP-8 printers. Normally, *grolbp* is invoked by [*groff*(1)](/man/os/groff/groff.1) when the latter is given the “**-T lbp**” option. (In this installation, **ps** is the default output device.) Use *groff*'s **-P** option to pass any options shown above to *grolbp*. If no *file* arguments are given, or if *file* is “-”, *grolbp* reads the standard input stream. It writes to the standard output stream.

## [Typefaces](#Typefaces)

The driver supports the Dutch, Swiss, and Swiss-Narrow scalable typefaces, each in the regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles. Additionally, the bitmapped, monospaced Courier and Elite typefaces are available in regular, bold, and italic styles; Courier at 8 and 12 points, Elite at 8 and 10 points. The following chart summarizes the *groff* font names used to access them.

**Typeface** **Roman** **Bold** **Italic** **Bold-Italic** Dutch TR TB TI TBI Swiss HR HB HI HBI Swiss Narrow HNR HNB HNI HNBI Courier CR CB CI Elite ER EB EI

## [Paper format, orientation, and device description file](#Paper_format,_orientation,_and_device_description_file)

*grolbp* supports paper formats “**A4**”, “**letter**”, “**legal**”, and “**executive**”. These are matched case-insensitively. The **-p**, **--papersize** option overrides any setting in the device description file *DESC*. If neither specifies a paper format, A4 is assumed.

In its *DESC* file, *grolbp* (case-insensitively) recognizes an **orientation** directive accepting one mandatory argument, **portrait** or **landscape**. The first valid orientation directive encountered controls. The **-l**, **-o**, and **--orientation** command-line options override any setting in *DESC*. If none of the foregoing specify the orientation, portrait is assumed.

## [Font description files](#Font_description_files)

In addition to the font description file directives documented in [*groff\_font*(5)](/man/os/groff/groff_font.5), *grolbp* recognizes **lbpname**, which maps the *groff* font name to the font name used internally by the printer. Its syntax is as follows.

```
lbpname printer-font-name
```

**lbpname**'s argument is case-sensitive. The printer's font names are encoded as follows.

For bitmapped fonts, *printer-font\_name* has the form **N**⟨*base-font-name*⟩⟨*font-style*⟩. *base-font-name* is the font name as it appears in the printer's font listings without the first letter, up to (but not including) the font size. *font-style* can be one of the letters **R**, **I**, or **B**, indicating the roman, italic, and bold styles, respectively. For instance, if the printer's “font listing A” shows “Nelite12I.ISO\_USA”, the corresponding entry in the *groff* font description file is “**lbpname NeliteI**”. You may need to modify *grolbp* to add support for new bitmapped fonts, since the available font names and font sizes of bitmapped fonts (as documented above) are hard-coded into the program.

For scalable fonts, *printer-font-name* is identical to the font name as it appears in the printer's “font listing A”. For instance, to select the “Swiss” font in bold-italic style, which appears in the font listing as “Swiss-BoldOblique”, “**lbpname Swiss-BoldOblique**” is the required directive, and this is what we find in the *groff* font description file *HBI* for the **lbp** device.

## [Drawing commands](#Drawing_commands)

For compatibility with [*grolj4*(1)](/man/os/groff/grolj4.1), an additional drawing command is available.

**\\D'R dh dv'**

Draw a rule (solid black rectangle) with one corner at the drawing position, and the diagonally opposite corner at the drawing position +(*dh*,*dv*).

# [Options](#Options)

**-h** and **--help** display a usage message, while **-v** and **--version** show version information; all exit afterward.

[**-c num-copies**](#c)

[**--copies=num-copies**](#copies=)

Produce *num-copies* copies of each page.

[**-F font-directory**](#F)

[**--fontdir=font-directory**](#fontdir=)

Prepend directory font-directory*/dev*name to the search path for font and device description files; *name* is the name of the device, usually **lbp**.

[**-l**](#l)

[**--landscape**](#landscape)

Format the document in landscape orientation.

[**-o orientation**](#o)

[**--orientation=orientation**](#orientation=)

Format the document in the given *orientation*, which must be “**portrait**” or “**landscape**”.

[**-p paper-format**](#p)

[**--papersize=paper-format**](#papersize=)

Set the paper format to *paper-format*, which must be a valid paper format as described above.

[**-w width**](#w)

[**--linewidth=width**](#linewidth=)

Set the default line thickness to *width* thousandths of an em; the default is **40** (0.04 em).

# [Exit status](#Exit_status)

*grolbp* exits with status **0** on successful operation, status **2** if the program cannot interpret its command-line arguments, and status **1** if it encounters an error during operation.

# [Environment](#Environment)

[*GROFF\_FONT\_PATH*](#GROFF_FONT_PATH)

lists directories in which to seek the selected output device's directory of device and font description files. See [*troff*(1)](/man/os/groff/troff.1) and [*groff\_font*(5)](/man/os/groff/groff_font.5).

# [Files](#Files)

*/usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devlbp/DESC*

describes the **lbp** output device.

*/usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devlbp/*F

describes the font known as *F* on device **lbp**.

*/usr/share/groff/1.24.2/tmac/lbp.tmac*

defines macros for use with the **lbp** output device. It is automatically loaded by *troffrc* when the **lbp** output device is selected.

# [See also](#See_also)

[*groff*(1)](/man/os/groff/groff.1), [*troff*(1)](/man/os/groff/troff.1), [*groff\_out*(5)](/man/os/groff/groff_out.5), [*groff\_font*(5)](/man/os/groff/groff_font.5), [*groff\_char*(7)](/man/os/groff/groff_char.7)

2026-10-26 groff 1.24.2

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Document: grolbp(1) from groff 1.24.2-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/groff.git