Plain English

Defines a fallback chain: when a glyph is missing from the **base** font, the printer falls back to the **linked** font for that glyph. Same idea as web `font-family` fallback. Multiple `^FL` calls chain — base → link 1 → link 2 → ... — so a Latin primary can fall back to a CJK font for Chinese characters and to a symbol font for currency, all in one render.

When to use

For multilingual labels where no single font covers every script — e.g. an English/French primary plus Arabic/Hebrew/CJK fallbacks. Without `^FL`, missing glyphs render as the printer's "missing glyph" box and silently degrade label quality.

Syntax

^FLd:base.TTF,d:link.TTF

Parameters

ParameterDescription
baseDrive + filename of the primary font (e.g. `E:ARIAL.TTF`)
linkDrive + filename of the fallback font, used only for glyphs missing from `base`

Example

^XA
^FLE:ARIAL.TTF,E:ARIALUNI.TTF
^FLE:ARIALUNI.TTF,E:CJK.TTF
^FO50,50^A@N,30,30,E:ARIAL.TTF^FDLatin + CJK 中文^FS
^XZ

Two-link chain: Arial → Arial Unicode → CJK font. Latin glyphs use Arial; missing glyphs walk down the chain.

Try it in the playground View all ZPL commands