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ZPL text runs off the label edge (wrap it with ^FB)
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An address or product name is longer than you planned and the end of
it is simply missing on the printed label, cut off at the right edge.
Nothing is wrong with the printer: a plain ^FD field is one
line of text, and ZPL does not wrap it for you.
The cause: a text field is a single line
A field made of ^FO, a font and ^FD starts at
its origin and runs to the right for as long as the data lasts. Whatever
passes the print width is not printed. This one is 58 characters at a
40-dot font, far wider than a 4-inch label:
^FB (Field Block) formats the field into a block of text
with automatic word wrap, using the origin, font and rotation of the field
(Zebra guide, page 186). Its five parameters:
a — block width in dots. The default is 0, and if
the width is missing or smaller than the font width, the text does not
print at all. A ^FB without a width is the classic
"my text disappeared" mistake.
b — maximum number of lines (1–9999, default 1).
c — dots added to (or, with a minus sign, removed from)
the space between lines.
d — justification: L, C,
R or J (justified; the last line is left
aligned).
e — hanging indent, in dots, of the second and following
lines.
Two details in that example matter. \& inside the data
is a forced line break (page 187) — ordinary CR/LF characters in the
data are discarded, so pressing Enter in your template does nothing.
And the 30-dot hanging indent moves every line after the first one
inwards.
The surprise: extra lines overwrite the last one
If the text needs more lines than b allows, ZPL does not
cut it off neatly. The guide is explicit: text exceeding the maximum
number of lines overwrites the last line (page 186). The result is an
unreadable smear on the final line. Either raise b, shorten
the data, or use a smaller font; changing the font size also changes the
block size, because the line height follows the font.
Other rules from the guide
A word too long for one line is split at the right edge with an
automatic hyphen, at a point decided by width, not by syllables
(page 187).
With ^FT instead of ^FO, the origin is the
baseline of the last possible line, so the block grows upwards and
a larger font can push it past the top margin (page 187).
Each block needs its own ^FB; ^FS ends it.
The data string is limited to 3K (page 187).
^FB does not support complex text; for that, the guide
points to ^TB (page 188).
Before you reach for ^FB: three fixes that keep one line
Wrapping is right for an address. For a product name that must stay on
one line, three other things decide whether it fits, and each is a number
you can check rather than guess.
Narrow the font, not the text. The width parameter of
^A0 is independent of the height. In our renderer the 58-character
line above measures 980 dots at ^A0N,40,40 and 735 dots at
^A0N,40,30 — the second one fits a 4-inch label (812 dots at
203 dpi) with the same 40-dot height. A 25 % narrower glyph is still legible
on a shipping label; a smaller font often is not.
Check what the printer thinks the width is. Text is
clipped at the print width set by ^PW, not
at the physical edge. A 4-inch label driven with ^PW600, or
with a printer default left at a narrower media, loses the right 200 dots
of every field. The size analyzer
reads ^PW/^LL out of a format and tells you the
physical size at each resolution.
Move or rotate the field. A second
^FO with its own ^FD splits the
data in the template — what ERP templates do when they cannot rely on
^FB — and ^FW rotates a long
field along the label's long edge, where a 6-inch label offers 1218 dots
instead of 812.
Two neighbouring symptoms have their own pages. If boxes and barcodes
are missing on the right as well, not only text, the label itself is being
cut off — see ZPL label cut off.
If the text is complete but sits off-centre, see
centering text in ZPL. The full
parameter table for the block command is on the
^FB command page.
Check it before you print
Paste the format into the ZPL preview.
The preview follows the rules above: \& breaks the line,
a missing or too-narrow width prints nothing, and lines beyond
b are drawn on top of the last line — the same smear
the printer produces. The render API also returns a warning in the
X-Warnings header saying how many lines the text needed.
We have not verified these cases on a physical printer; the behaviour is
what Zebra's programming guide documents.
If the symptom is something else, the
ZPL troubleshooting triage maps
what the printer did to its usual cause.
Sources
Zebra, ZPL II, ZBI 2, Set-Get-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide
(P1134473-11EN): ^FB — Field Block, pages 186–188.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my ZPL text get cut off at the edge of the label?
A plain ^FD field is a single line and ZPL never wraps it. Whatever runs past the print width is not printed. Put the field in a ^FB block to wrap it.
How do I force a line break inside ZPL text?
Inside a ^FB block, \& in the data is a carriage return/line feed (Zebra guide, page 187). Ordinary CR/LF characters in the data are discarded.
Why does my ^FB text not print at all?
The ^FB width defaults to 0, and if it is missing or smaller than the font width the text does not print (page 186). Give the block an explicit width in dots.
What happens when the text needs more lines than ^FB allows?
It is not truncated: text exceeding the maximum number of lines overwrites the last line (page 186), which prints as an unreadable smear. Raise the line count or shorten the data.
Can I keep the text on one line instead of wrapping it?
Yes: make the font narrower, not smaller. ^A0 takes height and width separately; in our renderer a 58-character line needs 980 dots at ^A0N,40,40 but 735 dots at ^A0N,40,30, which fits a 4-inch label (812 dots at 203 dpi). Also check that ^PW matches the real label width.
