EPL Commands
b
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14245L-003 Rev. A EPL Programming Guide 12/16/13
p7 = selects data
compaction (compression)
method
Accepted Values: 0 or 1
Default Value: 0
c0 = Auto-encoding
The printer will switch between the three compaction
modes as needed to create the smallest possible symbol for
the given data.
c1 = Binary mode
The printer will encode the symbol in byte compaction
mode.
PDF417 uses an intermediate data type called a “codeword”
to store the characters in the symbol. Each codeword typically
consumes a fixed-size portion of the total symbol. More
characters inserted into a codeword results in fewer
codewords needed to create a symbol. This results in a
smaller symbol. To provide efficient data compaction, PDF-
417 supports three types of codewords: text, numeric and
binary.
Auto-Encoding (c0) data compaction method is set by
default, and provides the best compaction. If Binary data
compaction (c1) is selected the symbol will typically be
larger. Binary data compaction may help to minimize the
amount of time it takes a system to scan and decode the data
encoded within the symbol.
•Text compaction can be used for uppercase, lowercase,
numbers, space, carriage return, tab, line feed, and the
following characters:
&,:#-.$/+%*=^;@[\]_’~!"|(){}`
With text compaction, up to two characters can be
encoded in a single codeword.
•Numeric compaction can be used for numbers only. Up to
2.93 characters can be encoded in a single codeword.
•Byte compaction can be used for any character. But the
flexibility comes at a price; byte compaction encodes only
1.2 characters per codeword.
p8 (pxxx,yyy,mm)=
print human readable
This parameter is a non-standard implementor of the PDF417
and is only recommended for troubleshooting purposes.
Additional variables:
p = "p" - parameter identifier
xxx = horizontal start location
yyy = vertical start location
mm = maximum characters per line
Parameters Details
Data Type Compaction (Byte by Byte)
Text 2 Characters per codeword
Numeric 2.93 Characters per codeword
Binary 1.2 Bytes per codeword