Data Matrix Escape Sequences |
Data Matrix supports a variety of escape sequences in the data stream. The escape sequences begin with the caret (^) character. (To include an actual caret in the data stream, use two consecutive carets [^^].)
The following escape sequences are available:
^a: This sequence latches to ASCII encoding.
^c: This sequence latches to C40 encoding.
^b: This sequence latches to Binary (base 256) encoding.
^e: This sequence latches to EDIFACT encoding.
^x: This sequence latches to X12 encoding.
^t: This sequence latches to Text encoding.
^u: This sequence unlatches and returns to Auto encoding.
^X: This sequence represents an ASCII control character, where X is the character. For example, ^G represents BEL.
^1: This sequence represents FNC1. In the second codeword position, the ^1 must be preceded by an upper or lower case letter or by some pair of numerals from 01 to 99.
^3: This sequence indicates reader programming.
^5: This sequence is used as an abbreviated 05 header for the application identifier. It is decoded as the 05 macro header and trailer.
^6: This sequence is used as an abbreviated 06 header for the application identifier. It is decoded as the 06 macro header and trailer.
^7nnnnnn: This sequence represents an Extended Channel Interpretation Protocol (ECI) value, where nnnnnn is the six-digit ECI number. For example, ^7000009 represents ECI value 9. ECI protocol values have the following types of interpretations:
As identifiers of international character sets (encoding)
As control information for structured append in unbuffered mode
As information for encryption or compaction or for other general purposes
As user-defined information
If the data stream is Unicode and the ECI number identifies an encoding, the data is converted to the specified encoding. If the ECI number does not identify an encoding, Unicode data is converted to the ANSI 1252 (Western languages) encoding. |