ZPL Commands Reference

Complete documentation for all 141 ZPL II commands (firmware v26.8.0). Commands are organized by category for easy navigation and include syntax, parameters, examples, and usage guidelines.

📊 Documentation Status: ✅ 100% Complete (141/141 commands documented)

Documentation coverage is not the same thing as renderer support: every command is documented here, but the rendering engine implements the most-used subset — see Renderer support below for what actually renders today and how unsupported commands are reported.

Renderer support

The renderer behaves like a physical Zebra printer: it renders best-effort and never fails a label because of a command it does not implement. What is different is that it tells you — every skipped command and silent fallback is reported as a diagnostic, inline in the online viewer and desktop app, and via the X-Warnings header on the API.

Rendering today (verified against the engine): label structure and fields (^XA ^XZ ^FS ^FX ^FO ^FT ^FB ^FD ^FV ^FH ^FR ^FW), fonts and text (^A ^CF, ^CI partially), barcodes (^BY ^BC Code 128 / GS1-128, ^B2 Interleaved 2-of-5, ^B3 Code 39, ^B7 PDF417, ^BQ QR Code, ^BX Data Matrix, ^BD MaxiCode), graphics (^GB ^GF ~DG ^XG ^ID), and layout (^LH ^PW ^CC ^CT).

Everything else falls into two buckets:

• Recognized but not implemented — documented ZPL the engine knows it does not render (for example ^KL, ^GC, ^GD, ^GE, ^GS). These are skipped and reported:

  UNSUPPORTED_COMMAND: command "^KL" is valid ZPL but is not supported by this renderer yet; it was skipped

• Accepted without visual effect — commands the parser accepts (printer-configuration commands like ^PR, ^MM, ^MN, and less-common barcode types) that currently produce no output or fall back to rendering the field data as plain text. Reporting for this bucket is being expanded under the coverage process — if one of these commands matters to you, tell us.

Anything that is not ZPL at all (typos, wrong case) is reported as:

UNKNOWN_COMMAND: This ZPL command does not exist and was ignored

Quick Start Commands

The most essential commands to get started with ZPL:

• ^XA - Start Format - Begins a label format (required)
• ^XZ - End Format - Ends a label format (required)
• ^FO - Field Origin - Sets field position
• ^FD - Field Data - Specifies text content
• ^FS - Field Separator - Ends field definition
• ^A - Scalable Font - Selects font and size

Command Categories

Format Control (8 commands)

Commands for controlling label format structure and storage.

Field Commands (15 commands)

Commands for defining text fields, positioning, and formatting.

Font & Text Commands (14 commands)

Commands for font selection, text formatting, and font downloads.

Bar Code Commands (25 commands)

Commands for creating 1D and 2D barcodes.

Graphics Commands (11 commands)

Commands for drawing shapes and managing graphics.

Label Formatting Commands (12 commands)

Commands for controlling label dimensions, orientation, and positioning.

Print Control Commands (10 commands)

Commands for controlling print behavior, quantity, and speed.

Memory & Storage Commands (6 commands)

Commands for managing printer memory and storage.

Network Commands (7 commands)

Commands for network configuration and multi-printer operations.

Sensor & Calibration Commands (13 commands)

Commands for sensor configuration and printer calibration.

Control & Reset Commands (7 commands)

Commands for print job control and printer reset.

Inquiry Commands (2 commands)

Commands for printer information and status.

Serialization Commands (2 commands)

Commands for data serialization and variable fields.

Delimiter & Prefix Commands (3 commands)

Commands for changing command and parameter delimiters.

System Configuration Commands (11 commands)

Commands for printer configuration and system settings.

Image Commands (4 commands)

Commands for advanced image handling.

Encoding Commands (5 commands)

Commands for character encoding and special characters.

Complete Coverage Summary

Documentation Statistics

The table below counts documentation pages, not renderer support — see Renderer support for what renders today.

Commands by Prefix

Carat Commands (^)

All commands beginning with the caret symbol ^:

• Format Control: ^XA, ^XZ, ^XB, ^DF, ^EF, ^XF
• Field: ^FO, ^FD, ^FS, ^FT, ^FB, ^FH, ^FN, ^FV, ^FA, ^FP, ^FR, ^FW, ^FX
• Font: ^A, ^A@, ^CF, ^CI, ^CW, ^KL, ^KP
• Barcode: ^B1-^B4, ^B9, ^BA, ^BC-^BX, ^BY
• Graphics: ^XG, ^EG, ^GB-^GS, ^HG, ^DD, ^IM, ^IL, ^IS, ^ID
• Label Formatting: ^LH, ^LL, ^LR, ^LS, ^LT, ^MM, ^MN, ^MT, ^MF, ^ML, ^PM, ^PO
• Print Control: ^PQ, ^PR, ^PW, ^PF, ^PH, ^PP, ^SP, ^JZ, ^ZZ
• Memory: ^TO, ^JB, ^HW, ^WD
• Network: ^HV, ^NI
• Sensor: ^JJ, ^JM, ^JT, ^JW, ^SR
• Control: ^DD
• System: ^CV, ^JU, ^MU, ^MP, ^CO, ^CT
• Encoding: ^SC, ^SE, ^CI, ^CW, ^FH, ^FP
• Total: 100+ carat commands

Tilde Commands (~)

All commands beginning with the tilde symbol ~:

• Fonts: ~DB, ~DS, ~DT, ~DU, ~DE
• Graphics: ~DG, ~DN
• Memory: ~HM, ~JB
• Network: ~HI, ~HS, ~NC, ~NR, ~NT
• Sensor: ~HB, ~JC, ~JD, ~JE, ~JG, ~JL, ~JN, ~JO
• Control: ~JA, ~JP, ~JR, ~JS, ~JX, ~TA
• Inquiry: ~WC
• Print Control: ~PS
• System: ~SD
• Total: 40+ tilde commands

Common Command Patterns

Basic Label Structure

^XA
^FO50,50              # Position at (50,50)
^ADN,50,50            # Font: Arial,
^FDHello World^FS
^XZ

With Barcodes

^XA
^FO50,50
^BCN,100,Y,N,N        # Code 128 barcode
^FD123456789^FS
^FO50,200
^ADN,40,40
^FDProduct Code^FS
^XZ

With Multiple Fields

^XA
^LH0,0                # Label home
^LL812                # Label height
^FO50,50
^ADN,50,50
^FDField 1^FS
^FO50,150
^ADN,40,40
^FDField 2^FS
^XZ

Parameter Notation

Throughout ZPL documentation:

• Required parameters must be specified
• Optional parameters can be omitted
• Comma delimiters separate parameters
• Trailing commas can be omitted if using defaults

Orientation Values

For fields and bar codes:

• N = Normal (0°)
• R = Rotated 90° clockwise
• I = Inverted 180°
• B = Read from bottom up (270°)

Device Designations

When specifying storage locations:

• R: = RAM (volatile memory)
• E: = Permanent storage (EPROM, Flash)
• B: = Optional memory (Flash card)
• A: = All memory devices

Quick Access by Use Case

Building a Label

1. Start with ^XA (Start Format)
2. Set label dimensions with ^LL and ^LH
3. Position with ^FO
4. Select font with ^A or ^CF
5. Add text with ^FD and ^FS
6. End with ^XZ (End Format)

Adding Barcodes

• Code 128: ^BC
• Code 39: ^B3
• QR Code: ^BQ
• Data Matrix: ^BX
• Set size with ^BY

Working with Graphics

• Store images: ~DG
• Recall images: ^XG
• Draw shapes: ^GB, ^GC
• Direct bitmap: ^DD

Printer Control

• Print quantity: ^PQ
• Print speed: ^PR
• Media type: ^MT
• Print mode: ^MM

Troubleshooting & Setup

• Configuration: ~WC (Print Configuration Label)
• Memory status: ~HM
• Reset printer: ~JR
• Calibrate sensors: ~JC

Tips & Best Practices

1. Always end with ^XZ - Every label format must end with this command
2. Position before content - Use ^FO before ^FD and barcode commands
3. Set fonts early - Use ^A or ^CF at the beginning to avoid repetition
4. Test before production - Verify labels look correct before large print jobs
5. Use comments - Add ^FX comments to document complex formats
6. Consider reuse - Use ^DF to store frequently used formats
7. Optimize for speed - Minimize command size for faster transmission
8. Check memory - Use ~HM to verify available memory before large downloads
9. Validate codes - Enable code validation with ^CV for quality assurance
10. Document configuration - Print configuration labels with ~WC for reference