Virtual printer attribute names

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Established conventions for virtual printer attribute names are described.

The following conventions have been established for virtual printer attribute names:

  • Each attribute name must be unique.
  • Attribute names can contain the characters a through z, A through Z, 0 through 9, and _ (underscore). The name cannot begin with a numeral.
  • All attribute names must be two characters long (except group header attribute names, which can be five characters long).
  • Attribute names for group headers begin with _ _ (two underscores) and must not be longer than five characters. A group header attribute (formerly called a comment attribute) marks the beginning of a group of related attributes. For example, the group header attribute _ _FLG marks the beginning of a group of attributes that define the default values for command line flags. The grouping of attributes is for readability purposes and does not affect how the attributes are processed.
  • An attribute name beginning with _ (an underscore), except for group headers, can be overridden by a command line flag of the same name as the second character of the attribute name. For example, -w 132, specified with the qprt command, overrides with a value of 132 the value specified for the _w attribute in the colon file.