Abstract: A method and apparatus for representing characters employ a printing unit to print symbols which correspond to characters, the characters being represented either by individual printed symbols or by two or more symbols printed in sequence or two or more overstruck symbols. The characters to be printed are encoded into one or more data words, each data word having a code word associated therewith which is stored in one of three memories which serve to address the printing unit to represent a particular symbol or symbols. If a character is encoded by a single data word, this single data word is supplied to a first memory and if the corresponding code word is contained in the first memory, the code word is released to the printing unit and the symbol is printed. If the corresponding code word is not contained in the first memory, an address word for a second memory is read from the first memory, this address word containing the code words and associated positioning words for the character.