Handling Special Printing Modes

A print filter handles special modes and requests to print specific pages. A special printing mode is needed to print any characteristics of print requests that require a customized filter. Filters handle the following characteristics:

• Printer type

• Character pitch

• Line pitch

• Page length

• Page width

• Pages to print

• Character set

• Form name

• Number of copies

The LP print service provides default settings for these characteristics; however, a print filter can handle some characteristics more efficiently. For example, some printers can handle multiple copies more efficiently than the LP print service, and, in this case, you can provide a filter for multiple-copy page control.