^GC renders a circle on the label. The circle is defined by its outer diameter and border thickness. When the border thickness equals half the diameter or more, the circle appears as a filled disc; a smaller border thickness produces a ring.
^GC is positioned by ^FO, which specifies the top-left corner of the bounding box around the circle. The center of the circle is automatically at (x + d/2, y + d/2) relative to the FO position.
Common uses include: bullet points, warning indicators, filled dots for decoration, ring-shaped markers for machine-vision systems, or circular bounding elements around text or icons.
The color parameter (c) controls foreground color: B (black) or W (white). A white circle over a black rectangle (^GB filled) creates a white-on-black cutout effect.
Unlike ^GB, there is no rounding parameter for ^GC — the shape is always circular. For ellipses, there is no native ZPL command; approximate by using a narrow, tall ^GB with maximum rounding.
Syntax
^GCd,t[,c]
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| d | integer | optional | Circle diameter in dots (outer edge to outer edge). |
| t | integer | optional | Border thickness in dots. Set to d/2 or more for a solid filled circle. |
| c | B | W | B | Color: B = black, W = white. |
Examples
Solid filled circle (disc)
Try in Viewer^XA ^FO50,50^GC80,80,B^FS ^FO150,65^A0N,30,30^FDFilled disc^FS ^XZ
Ring-style circle outline
Try in Viewer^XA ^FO50,50^GC100,6,B^FS ^FO50,170^A0N,28,28^FDCircle outline^FS ^XZ
Common Mistakes
- !Setting t (thickness) greater than d/2 — valid, and produces a filled circle, but the intent may have been a ring.
- !Positioning the circle expecting ^FO to be the center — ^FO is the top-left corner of the circle's bounding box, not its center.
- !Using ^GC for ellipses — there is no native ellipse command in ZPL; use ^GB with rounding as an approximation.