1. ZPL II, ZBI 2, Set-Get-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide
  2. ZPL Commands
  3. ^SF
  • ZPL II, ZBI 2, Set-Get-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide
^SF

^SF

The
^SF
 command allows you to serialize a standard
^FD
 string. The maximum size of the mask and increment string is 3K combined.

Serialization Field (with a Standard ^FD String)

In firmware version x.14 and later, strings are serialized from the last character in the backing store with regard to the alignment of the mask and increment strings. For combining semantic clusters that do not get incremented, the mask character % needs to be added to the increment string.
Format:
^SFa,b
Parameters
Details
a =
 mask string
The mask string sets the serialization scheme. The length of the string mask defines the number of characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic clusters) in the current
^FD
 string to be serialized. The mask is aligned to the characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic clusters) in the
^FD
 string starting with the right-most (or in firmware x.14 and later, last) in the backing store position.
Mask String placeholders:
D
 or
d
 – Decimal numeric 0–9
H
 or
h
 – Hexadecimal 0–9 plus a-f or A-F
O
 or
o
 – Octal 0–7
A
 or
a
 – Alphabetic A–Z or a–z
N
 or
n
 – Alphanumeric 0–9 plus A–Z or a–z
%
 – Ignore character or skip
b =
 increment string
The increment string is the value to be added to the field on each label. The default value is equivalent to a decimal value of one. The string is composed of any characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic clusters) defined in the serial string. Invalid characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic clusters) are assumed to be equal to a value of zero in that characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic clusters) position.
The increment value for alphabetic strings starts with ‘
A
’ or ‘
a
’ as the zero placeholder. This means to increment an alphabetic character (or in firmware version x.14 and later, combining semantic cluster) by one, a value of ‘
B
’ or ‘
b
’ must be in the increment string.
For characters that do not get incremented, the
%
 character needs to be added to the increment string.
Example:
 This is an example of serializing a
^FD
 string. The ZPL II code generates three separate labels as seen in Generated Labels:
This mask has the first characters (or in firmware version x.14 and later, the first combining semantic clusters) as alphanumeric (
nn =
 12), and the last digit is uppercase alphabetic (A). The decimal value of the increment number is equivalent to 5 (F). The number of labels generated depends on the number specified by the
^PQ
 command.
In a similar instance, the
^FD
 string could be replaced with either of the
^FD
 strings below to generate a series of labels, determined by
^PQ
.
Using this ZPL code:
^FDBL0000^SFAAdddd,1
The print sequence on this series of labels is:
BL0000, BL0001,...BL0009, BL0010,...
BL0099, BL0100,...BL9999, BM0000...
Using this ZPL code:
^FDBL00-0^SFAAdd%d,1%1
The print sequence on this series of labels is:
BL00-0, BL01-1, BL02-2,...BL09-9,
BL11-0, BL12-1...
Important notes about masking for firmware version V60.14.x, V50.14.x, or later:
  • A single % masks an entire combining semantic cluster rather than a single code point.
  • The mask string and increment string should be aligned at the last code point in their respective backing stores.
  • Control and bidirectional characters do not require a mask and are ignored for serialization purposes.
The following examples show the importance of capitalization and location within the mask.
Example 1
In this example, the printer cycles with every two printed labels and alternates between H (position 18), and then Z (position 36). With n or N, the serial number increments from 0 - 9 and a–z or A–Z (36 positions overall). With each completed cycle, the second cluster (nn) increments one position (from 00, 01, 02 …) per cycle:
Example 2
In this example, lowercase i increments with a mask string of nnN. Nothing changes because the first cluster (Z) never triggers the second cluster (zz) to change.