Unicode characters on ZPL printer

Question

I have the task of re-designing a system to print shipping labels, using a networked Zebra GK420T. I have been able to send ZPL print jobs to it perfectly fine, but I cannot

Answer 1

When we use CP1251 as system encoding it causes empty symbols in labels, if we write Cyrillic in ZPL code. CP1251 users could first force convert "До свидания" to UTF-8 and get:

До свидания

Replace До свидания in ZPL code with these strange symbols and get "До свидания" on the label. It works with tt0003m_.fnt with ^CI28, but IMHO it is better to use hex-codes instead.

Answer 2

I just discovered that you need to escape characters above ASCII by first putting ^FH before any ^FD fields that could contain a utf character and you need to prefix the utf-8 hex code with an underscore

_D0_94 will print as Д. My final ZPL code is as follows:

^XA
^LH100,150
^CWT,E:TT0003M_.FNT
^CFT,30,30
^CI28
^FT0,0^FH^FDTesting 1 2 3^FS
^FT0,50^FH^FD_D0_94_D0_BE _D1_81_D0_B2_D0_B8_D0_B4_D0_B0_D0_BD_D0_B8_D1_8F^FS
^FT0,100^B3^FDAAA001^FS
^XZ

I'm just going to have to make a way to generate the escape sequences, which should be much easier!

Answer 3

I'm using Zebra ZM400 printer and use TT0003M_ font.

this font does not print kazakh cyrillic.

if you want to print cryillic + kazakh cyrillic + latin alphabet, use ARI000.FNT (arial font)

I'm using the following method convert char to hex code

I hope this helps

stringConverTextToHex(stringtext)
{
stringnewText="";
char[]charArray=text.ToCharArray();
foreach(charcincharArray)
{
switch(c)
{
case'й':
newText+="_D0_B9";
break;
case'Й':
newText+="_D0_99";
break;
case'ц':
newText+="_D1_86";
break;
case'Ц':
newText+="_D0_A6";
break;
case'у':
newText+="_D1_83";
break;
case'У':
newText+="_D0_A3";
break;
case'к':
newText+="_D0_BA";
break;
case'К':
newText+="_D0_9A";
break;
case'е':
newText+="_D0_B5";
break;
case'Е':
newText+="_D0_95";
break;
case'н':
newText+="_D0_BD";
break;
case'Н':
newText+="_D0_9D";
break;
case'г':
newText+="_D0_B3";
break;
case'Г':
newText+="_D0_93";
break;
case'ш':
newText+="_D1_88";
break;
case'Ш':
newText+="_D0_A8";
break;
case'щ':
newText+="_D1_89";
break;
case'Щ':
newText+="_D0_A9";
break;
case'з':
newText+="_D0_B7";
break;
case'З':
newText+="_D0_97";
break;
case'х':
newText+="_D1_85";
break;
case'Х':
newText+="_D0_A5";
break;
case'ъ':
newText+="_D1_8A";
break;
case'Ъ':
newText+="_D0_AA";
break;
case'ф':
newText+="_D1_84";
break;
case'Ф':
newText+="_D0_A4";
break;
case'ы':
newText+="_D1_8B";
break;
case'Ы':
newText+="_D0_AB";
break;
case'в':
newText+="_D0_B2";
break;
case'В':
newText+="_D0_92";
break;
case'а':
newText+="_D0_B0";
break;
case'А':
newText+="_D0_90";
break;
case'п':
newText+="_D0_BF";
break;
case'П':
newText+="_D0_9F";
break;
case'р':
newText+="_D1_80";
break;
case'Р':
newText+="_D0_A0";
break;
case'о':
newText+="_D0_BE";
break;
case'О':
newText+="_D0_9E";
break;
case'л':
newText+="_D0_BB";
break;
case'Л':
newText+="_D0_9B";
break;
case'д':
newText+="_D0_B4";
break;
case'Д':
newText+="_D0_94";
break;
case'ж':
newText+="_D0_B6";
break;
case'Ж':
newText+="_D0_96";
break;
case'э':
newText+="_D1_8D";
break;
case'Э':
newText+="_D0_AD";
break;
case'я':
newText+="_D1_8F";
break;
case'Я':
newText+="_D0_AF";
break;
case'ч':
newText+="_D1_87";
break;
case'Ч':
newText+="_D0_A7";
break;
case'с':
newText+="_D1_81";
break;
case'С':
newText+="_D0_A1";
break;
case'м':
newText+="_D0_BC";
break;
case'М':
newText+="_D0_9C";
break;
case'и':
newText+="_D0_B8";
break;
case'И':
newText+="_D0_98";
break;
case'т':
newText+="_D1_82";
break;
case'Т':
newText+="_D0_A2";
break;
case'ь':
newText+="_D1_8C";
break;
case'Ь':
newText+="_D0_AC";
break;
case'б':
newText+="_D0_B1";
break;
case'Б':
newText+="_D0_91";
break;
case'ю':
newText+="_D1_8E";
break;
case'Ю':
newText+="_D0_AE";
break;
case'ӑ':
newText+="_D3_91";
break;
case'Ӑ':
newText+="_D3_90";
break;
case'ӓ':
newText+="_D3_93";
break;
case'Ӓ':
newText+="_D3_92";
break;
case'ә':
newText+="_D3_99";
break;
case'Ә':
newText+="_D3_98";
break;
case'ӛ':
newText+="_D3_9B";
break;
case'Ӛ':
newText+="_D3_9A";
break;
case'ӕ':
newText+="_D3_95";
break;
case'Ӕ':
newText+="_D3_94";
break;
case'ґ':
newText+="_D2_91";
break;
case'Ґ':
newText+="_D2_90";
break;
case'ѓ':
newText+="_D1_93";
break;
case'Ѓ':
newText+="_D0_83";
break;
case'ғ':
newText+="_D2_93";
break;
case'Ғ':
newText+="_D2_92";
break;
case'ӷ':
newText+="_D3_B7";
break;
case'Ӷ':
newText+="_D3_B6";
break;
case'ҕ':
newText+="_D2_95";
break;
case'Ҕ':
newText+="_D2_94";
break;
case'ђ':
newText+="_D1_92";
break;
case'Ђ':
newText+="_D0_82";
break;
case'ѐ':
newText+="_D1_90";
break;
case'Ѐ':
newText+="_D0_80";
break;
case'ӗ':
newText+="_D3_97";
break;
case'Ӗ':
newText+="_D3_96";
break;
case'ҽ':
newText+="_D2_BD";
break;
case'Ҽ':
newText+="_D2_BC";
break;
case'ҿ':
newText+="_D2_BF";
break;
case'Ҿ':
newText+="_D2_BE";
break;
case'є':
newText+="_D1_94";
break;
case'Є':
newText+="_D0_84";
break;
case'ӂ':
newText+="_D3_82";
break;
case'Ӂ':
newText+="_D3_81";
break;
case'җ':
newText+="_D2_97";
break;
case'Җ':
newText+="_D2_96";
break;
case'ӝ':
newText+="_D3_9D";
break;
case'Ӝ':
newText+="_D3_9C";
break;
case'ҙ':
newText+="_D2_99";
break;
case'Ҙ':
newText+="_D2_98";
break;
case'ӟ':
newText+="_D3_9F";
break;
case'Ӟ':
newText+="_D3_9E";
break;
case'ӡ':
newText+="_D3_A1";
break;
case'Ӡ':
newText+="_D3_A0";
break;
case'ѕ':
newText+="_D1_95";
break;
case'Ѕ':
newText+="_D0_85";
break;
case'ѝ':
newText+="_D1_9D";
break;
case'Ѝ':
newText+="_D0_8D";
break;
case'ӥ':
newText+="_D3_A5";
break;
case'Ӥ':
newText+="_D3_A4";
break;
case'ӣ':
newText+="_D3_A3";
break;
case'Ӣ':
newText+="_D3_A2";
break;
case'і':
newText+="_D1_96";
break;
case'І':
newText+="_D0_86";
break;
case'ї':
newText+="_D1_97";
break;
case'Ї':
newText+="_D0_87";
break;
case'Ӏ':
newText+="_D3_80";
break;
case'ҋ':
newText+="_D2_8B";
break;
case'Ҋ':
newText+="_D2_8A";
break;
case'ј':
newText+="_D1_98";
break;
case'Ј':
newText+="_D0_88";
break;
case'қ':
newText+="_D2_9B";
break;
case'Қ':
newText+="_D2_9A";
break;
case'ҟ':
newText+="_D2_9F";
break;
case'Ҟ':
newText+="_D2_9E";
break;
case'ҡ':
newText+="_D2_A1";
break;
case'Ҡ':
newText+="_D2_A0";
break;
case'ӄ':
newText+="_D3_84";
break;
case'Ӄ':
newText+="_D3_83";
break;
case'ҝ':
newText+="_D2_9D";
break;
case'Ҝ':
newText+="_D2_9C";
break;
case'ӆ':
newText+="_D3_86";
break;
case'Ӆ':
newText+="_D3_85";
break;
case'љ':
newText+="_D1_99";
break;
case'Љ':
newText+="_D0_89";
break;
case'ӎ':
newText+="_D3_8E";
break;
case'Ӎ':
newText+="_D3_8D";
break;
case'ӊ':
newText+="_D3_8A";
break;
case'Ӊ':
newText+="_D3_89";
break;
case'ң':
newText+="_D2_A3";
break;
case'Ң':
newText+="_D2_A2";
break;
case'ӈ':
newText+="_D3_88";
break;
case'Ӈ':
newText+="_D3_87";
break;
case'ҥ':
newText+="_D2_A5";
break;
case'Ҥ':
newText+="_D2_A4";
break;
case'њ':
newText+="_D1_9A";
break;
case'Њ':
newText+="_D0_8A";
break;
case'ӧ':
newText+="_D3_A7";
break;
case'Ӧ':
newText+="_D3_A6";
break;
case'ө':
newText+="_D3_A9";
break;
case'Ө':
newText+="_D3_A8";
break;
case'ӫ':
newText+="_D3_AB";
break;
case'Ӫ':
newText+="_D3_AA";
break;
case'ҩ':
newText+="_D2_A9";
break;
case'Ҩ':
newText+="_D2_A8";
break;
case'ҧ':
newText+="_D2_A7";
break;
case'Ҧ':
newText+="_D2_A6";
break;
case'ҏ':
newText+="_D2_8F";
break;
case'Ҏ':
newText+="_D2_8E";
break;
case'ҫ':
newText+="_D2_AB";
break;
case'Ҫ':
newText+="_D2_AA";
break;
case'ҭ':
newText+="_D2_AD";
break;
case'Ҭ':
newText+="_D2_AC";
break;
case'ћ':
newText+="_D1_9B";
break;
case'Ћ':
newText+="_D0_8B";
break;
case'ќ':
newText+="_D1_9C";
break;
case'Ќ':
newText+="_D0_8C";
break;
case'ў':
newText+="_D1_9E";
break;
case'Ў':
newText+="_D0_8E";
break;
case'ӳ':
newText+="_D3_B3";
break;
case'Ӳ':
newText+="_D3_B2";
break;
case'ӱ':
newText+="_D3_B1";
break;
case'Ӱ':
newText+="_D3_B0";
break;
case'ӯ':
newText+="_D3_AF";
break;
case'Ӯ':
newText+="_D3_AE";
break;
case'ү':
newText+="_D2_AF";
break;
case'Ү':
newText+="_D2_AE";
break;
case'ұ':
newText+="_D2_B1";
break;
case'Ұ':
newText+="_D2_B0";
break;
case'ҳ':
newText+="_D2_B3";
break;
case'Ҳ':
newText+="_D2_B2";
break;
case'һ':
newText+="_D2_BB";
break;
case'Һ':
newText+="_D2_BA";
break;
case'ҵ':
newText+="_D2_B5";
break;
case'Ҵ':
newText+="_D2_B4";
break;
case'ӵ':
newText+="_D3_B5";
break;
case'Ӵ':
newText+="_D3_B4";
break;
case'ҷ':
newText+="_D2_B7";
break;
case'Ҷ':
newText+="_D2_B6";
break;
case'ӌ':
newText+="_D3_8C";
break;
case'Ӌ':
newText+="_D3_8B";
break;
case'ҹ':
newText+="_D2_B9";
break;
case'Ҹ':
newText+="_D2_B8";
break;
case'џ':
newText+="_D1_9F";
break;
case'Џ':
newText+="_D0_8F";
break;
case'ӹ':
newText+="_D3_B9";
break;
case'Ӹ':
newText+="_D3_B8";
break;
case'ҍ':
newText+="_D2_8D";
break;
case'Ҍ':
newText+="_D2_8C";
break;
case'ӭ':
newText+="_D3_AD";
break;
case'Ӭ':
newText+="_D3_AC";
break;
case'A':
newText+="_41";
break;
case'a':
newText+="_61";
break;
case'B':
newText+="_42";
break;
case'b':
newText+="_62";
break;
case'C':
newText+="_43";
break;
case'c':
newText+="_63";
break;
case'D':
newText+="_44";
break;
case'd':
newText+="_64";
break;
case'E':
newText+="_45";
break;
case'e':
newText+="_65";
break;
case'F':
newText+="_46";
break;
case'f':
newText+="_66";
break;
case'G':
newText+="_47";
break;
case'g':
newText+="_67";
break;
case'H':
newText+="_48";
break;
case'h':
newText+="_68";
break;
case'I':
newText+="_49";
break;
case'i':
newText+="_69";
break;
case'J':
newText+="_4A";
break;
case'j':
newText+="_6A";
break;
case'K':
newText+="_4B";
break;
case'k':
newText+="_6B";
break;
case'L':
newText+="_4C";
break;
case'l':
newText+="_6C";
break;
case'M':
newText+="_4D";
break;
case'm':
newText+="_6D";
break;
case'N':
newText+="_4E";
break;
case'n':
newText+="_6E";
break;
case'O':
newText+="_4F";
break;
case'o':
newText+="_6F";
break;
case'P':
newText+="_50";
break;
case'p':
newText+="_70";
break;
case'R':
newText+="_52";
break;
case'r':
newText+="_72";
break;
case'S':
newText+="_53";
break;
case's':
newText+="_73";
break;
case'T':
newText+="_54";
break;
case't':
newText+="_74";
break;
case'U':
newText+="_55";
break;
case'u':
newText+="_75";
break;
case'V':
newText+="_56";
break;
case'v':
newText+="_76";
break;
case'Y':
newText+="_59";
break;
case'y':
newText+="_79";
break;
case'Z':
newText+="_5A";
break;
case'z':
newText+="_7A";
break;
case'':
newText+="";
break;
default:
newText+=c;
break;
}
}
returnnewText;
}

this is the sample code

---

^SP ^XA ^PON^FS ^FPH^FO102,63,0 ^A@N,60,60,E:ARIOOO_.FNT ^FH^FD_42_75_72_61_6B _D0_A8_D3_99 ^FS ^XZ

---

Answer 4

As others have noted, make sure to use ^CI28 (Change International Font/Encoding) and ^FH (Field Hexadecimal Indicator) and escape any non-ascii utf8 characters with an underscore and their hex value.

However another answer included code to format the utf8 string using a gigantic switch-case block. Here is the method I use for encoding to utf8, it should be able to format any valid utf8 byte array.

To get the byte array from a string use Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(content).

// From the wikipedia page on utf8 encoding - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8
    private const int _Last1ByteCodePointByte1 = 0x7F;
    private const int _First2ByteCodePointByte1 = 0xC0;
    private const int _Last2ByteCodePointByte1 = 0xDF;
    private const int _Last3ByteCodePointByte1 = 0xEF;
    private const int _Last4ByteCodePointByte1 = 0xF7;
    private const int _FirstMultiByteCodePointByte2 = 0x80;
    private const int _LastMultiByteCodePointByte2 = 0xBF;
    private const char _ZplMultiByteEscapeCharacter = '_';

/// <summary>
/// Encodes a sequence of utf8 bytes for printing with the ZPL language, this means escaping multi-byte characters with an underscore ('_') followed by the hex code
/// for each byte in the multi-byte characters.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="utf8Bytes">The bytes that make up the entire string, including bytes that need to be encoded and bytes that can be printed as-is.</param>
/// <returns>A string for printing with the ZPL language. Ie all multi-byte characters escaped with an underscore ('_') followed by the hex code for each byte.</returns>
/// <throws><see cref="ArgumentException"/> when <paramref name="utf8Bytes"/> isn't a valid utf8 encoding of a string.</throws>
/// <remarks>
/// Plan is to figure out how many bytes this character (code point) takes up, and if it's a 1 byte character, just use the character, but otherwise since it's a multi-byte 
/// character then use an underscore ('_') followed by the hex encoded byte and each other byte in this code point will also be encoded. If we start the loop but have bytes 
/// remaining in the current code point we know to hex encode this byte and continue.
/// </remarks>
private static string EncodeUtf8BytesForZPLIIPrinting(byte[] utf8Bytes)
{
    var contentWithMultiByteCharsEscaped = new List<char>();

    var multiByteCodePoint = new List<char>();
    var remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint = 0;
    string errorMessage = null;

    foreach (byte utf8Byte in utf8Bytes)
    {
        if (remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint > 0)
        {
            if (utf8Byte < _FirstMultiByteCodePointByte2 || utf8Byte > _LastMultiByteCodePointByte2)
            {
                errorMessage = $"The byte {utf8Byte.ToString("X2")} is not a valid as the second or later byte of a multi-byte utf8 character (codepoint).";
                break;
            }

            multiByteCodePoint.Add(_ZplMultiByteEscapeCharacter);
            AddHexValuesToListFromByte(multiByteCodePoint, utf8Byte);
            remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint--;
            continue; // continue since we've dealt with this byte and don't want to flow on.
        }

        if (multiByteCodePoint.Any())
        {
            foreach (char c in multiByteCodePoint) contentWithMultiByteCharsEscaped.Add(c);
            multiByteCodePoint.Clear();
            // flow on to loop to see what to do with the current byte.
        }

        if (utf8Byte <= _Last1ByteCodePointByte1)
        {
            // 1 byte - no escaping
            contentWithMultiByteCharsEscaped.Add((char)utf8Byte);
        }
        else if (utf8Byte >= _First2ByteCodePointByte1 && utf8Byte <= _Last2ByteCodePointByte1)
        {
            // 2 bytes
            multiByteCodePoint.Add(_ZplMultiByteEscapeCharacter);
            AddHexValuesToListFromByte(multiByteCodePoint, utf8Byte);
            remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint = 1;
        }
        else if (utf8Byte <= _Last3ByteCodePointByte1)
        {
            // 3 bytes
            multiByteCodePoint.Add(_ZplMultiByteEscapeCharacter);
            AddHexValuesToListFromByte(multiByteCodePoint, utf8Byte);
            remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint = 2;
        }
        else if (utf8Byte <= _Last4ByteCodePointByte1)
        {
            // 4 bytes
            multiByteCodePoint.Add(_ZplMultiByteEscapeCharacter);
            AddHexValuesToListFromByte(multiByteCodePoint, utf8Byte);
            remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint = 3;
        }
        else
        {
            errorMessage = $"The byte {utf8Byte.ToString("X2")} is not a valid as the first byte of a utf8 character.";
            break;
        }
    }

    // if the last char was multiByte add it now.
    if (multiByteCodePoint.Any())
    {
        foreach (var c in multiByteCodePoint) contentWithMultiByteCharsEscaped.Add(c);
        multiByteCodePoint.Clear();
    }

    if (remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint != 0 && errorMessage == null)
    {
        errorMessage = $"The last character didn't have enough bytes to finish the codepoint. It was a multi-byte character that needed {remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint}" + 
            $" more byte{(remainingBytesInCurrentCodePoint == 1 ? null : "s")}.";
    }

    if (errorMessage != null)
    {
        throw new ArgumentException($"The byte array was not a valid byte array for a utf8 string: {errorMessage}", nameof(utf8Bytes));
    }

    return new string(contentWithMultiByteCharsEscaped.ToArray());


    void AddHexValuesToListFromByte(List<char> list, byte @byte)
    {
        // A byte is <= 255 so will always fit in a 2-digit hex number, hence the 2 in "X2". The X means hex.
        foreach (char c in @byte.ToString("X2"))
        {
            list.Add(c);
        }
    }
}