^KL - Define Language
Chooses the language of the printer's front-panel menus.
^KL chooses the language of the printer's control panel — the menus and status
messages an operator reads. It does not affect the text on the label, which comes
from ^FD and which the printer never translates.
Syntax
^KLaSupport
Accepted and skipped, because it configures the printer rather than the label. It cannot change the rendered output, and Labelary skips it too.
The command translates the operator's menus, not the label. Label text comes from ^FD, and the printer never translates it. The renderer does not parse this command. It reports IGNORED_COMMAND at info severity, which does not reach X-Warnings. Labelary is also silent, so the rendered label is identical in both engines. — not pinned by a test
Labelary renders this command.
Parameters
aLanguageoptional · one of a setFront-panel display language. Both 2 and 10 select Spanish; the guide distinguishes them as Spanish and Spanish2.
- Default
- 1
- Invalid value
- not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command.
- Test coverage
- No documented value is exercised by a test (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20).
1- English (default)
2- Spanish
3- French
4- German
5- Italian
6- Norwegian
7- Portuguese
8- Swedish
9- Danish
10- Spanish
11- Dutch
12- Finnish
13- Japanese
14- Korean
15- Simplified Chinese
16- Traditional Chinese
17- Russian
18- Polish
19- Czech
20- Romanian
Behavior
For label text, ^CI is the command that matters: it selects the character set
that decodes the bytes in a field. ^KL13 selects Japanese on the panel but does
not render a Japanese ^FD; the correct encoding and a font that holds the glyphs
do that.
The 2006 guide's list of languages ends at 13; higher values come from later
firmware, which Labelary documents. Both 2 and 10 select Spanish, which the
guide distinguishes as Spanish and Spanish2.
This API has no control panel, so the renderer ignores this command.
Differences from the specification
Labelary against the ZPL II guide
Where Labelary — our compatibility target — behaves differently from the printed specification.
- The 2006 guide's list ends at
13(Japanese). Values14to20(Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Polish, Czech and Romanian) come from Labelary's reference and later firmware. — not pinned by a test
Example
German panel menus, with the label text unaffected by the choice:
^XA
^KL4
^FO50,50^A0N,30,30^FDPanel language: German^FS
^XZ
Related commands
^CIChange International Font / EncodingSelects the character encoding of the field data.^MPMode ProtectionDisables individual front-panel functions so an operator cannot change them.^KPDefine PasswordSets the four-digit password guarding the printer's front panel.