---
title: "QHJ Print Formatter"
type: "article"
slug: "qhj-print-formatter"
url: "http://localhost/article/qhj-print-formatter/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/qhj-print-formatter.md"
published_at: "2025-11-21T19:05:17+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-06-21T23:24:19+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "The last four issues of the QHJ have beed done using Quill. Quill is a decent word processor but it has problems with large files. It is sooo slow when dealing with documents over 15 pages long. I have decided to move onto another text editor. I have ED, The Editor, and MicroEmacs. Ed is…"
category:
  - name: "QL Hacker's Journal"
    slug: "ql-hackers-journal"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/ql-hackers-journal/"
post_tag:
  - name: "Full Text"
    slug: "fulltext"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/fulltext/"
  - name: "QL"
    slug: "ql"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/ql/"
  - name: "Superbasic (programming language)"
    slug: "superbasic-programming-language"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/superbasic-programming-language/"
  - name: "Type-in program"
    slug: "type-in-program"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/type-in-program/"
model:
  - name: "Sinclair QL"
    slug: "sinclair-ql"
    taxonomy: "model"
    url: "http://localhost/model/sinclair-ql/"
indiv:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
publication_r:
  id: 33686
  title: "QL Hacker’s Journal"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/ql-hackers-journal/"
authors_r:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
issue: "5"
issues_articles:
  - id: 61541
    title: "QL Hacker’s Journal 5"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/ql-hackers-journal-4-2/"
pubdate: "August 1991"
archive_link: true
---

# QHJ Print Formatter

The last four issues of the QHJ have beed done using Quill. Quill is a decent word processor but it has problems with large files. It is sooo slow when dealing with documents over 15 pages long.

I have decided to move onto another text editor. I have ED, The Editor, and MicroEmacs. Ed is too small and editor for the task and The Editor has no text formating capability. MicroEmacs has a word wrap mode that I will give me the closest thing to a word processor.

One problem with using a text editor is that they do not support various print formats (bold, underline, etc). I decided to write a text formater that will read in the text file, recognize text formating commands, and sent the appropriate commmands to the printer. Below is a SSB program to do this.

Commands are entered on a line by themselves and must start in the first column of the line. Commands start with a period and are two characters long. They may be upper case or lower case (no mixing cases in one command). The commands are listed below:

```
.PB      -  Page Break
.DW      -  Start Double Width
.DO      -  End Double Width
.BD      -  Bold On
.BO      -  Bold Off
.LQ      -  NLQ On
.LO      -  NLQ Off
.UL      -  Underlining On
.UO      -  Underlining Off
```

The program automatically prints page numbers. The commands are set to be used on a Epson FX-80 compatible printer, like the Sinclair printer.

```
** QL Hacker's Printing Filter
** by Timothy Swenson

OPEN #5,con_250x150a75x0_32
PAPER #5,4 : INK #5, 0
CLS #5 : PRINT #5,\\
BORDER #5,2,2

PRINT #5,"      QL Hacker's Journal Printer"
PRINT #5,"        by  Timothy Swenson"\\\
PRINT #5,"Please Have Printer Ready Then,"\\
PRINT #5,"Enter Name of File to List :"
PRINT #5,"  (Enter Drive Name, ie. FLP1_)"
INPUT #5,infile$
OPEN_IN #4,infile$

CLS #5
STRIP #5,4
AT #5,10,10: PRINT #5,"  P R I N T I N G  "
STRIP #5,2

OPEN #3,ser1
PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"x1";

page = 1
count = 1

REPeat loop

   INPUT #4,in$
   IF EOF(#4) THEN EXIT loop
 
   IF in$=".pb" OR in$=".PB" THEN page_break : END REPEAT
loop
   IF in$=".dw" OR in$=".DW" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(14); : END
REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".do" OR in$=".DO" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(20); : END
REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".bd" OR in$=".BD" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(27);"E"; :
END REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".bo" OR in$=".BO" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(27);"F"; :
END REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".lq" OR in$=".LQ" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(27);"x1"; :
END REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".lo" OR in$=".LO" THEN PRINT #3, CHR$(27);"x0"; :
END REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".ul" OR in$=".UL" THEN PRINT #3,
CHR$(27);"-";CHR$(1); : END REPEAT loop
   IF in$=".uo" OR in$=".UO" THEN PRINT #3,
CHR$(27);"-";CHR$(0); : END REPEAT loop
   
   PRINT #3,in$
   count = count + 1 
   IF count = 63 THEN footer

END REPeat loop
page_break

CLOSE #3
CLOSE #4

DEFine PROCedure footer
   PRINT #3
   PRINT #3,"                       PAGE ";page
   PRINT #3,CHR$(12);
   page = page + 1
   PRINT #3," "
   PRINT #3," "
END DEFine footer

DEFine PROCedure page_break
   FOR x = 1 TO (63-count)
      PRINT #3," "
   NEXT x
   footer
END DEFine page_break
```