QR Payment String Generator

QR Payment String Generator is a pure-PHP library for generating the payment strings stored inside payment QR codes. It supports three formats:

• Slovak PAY by square
• Czech QR Platba (SPD 1.0)
• EPC / SEPA credit transfer QR codes

The package creates only the payment payload, not a QR image. Pass the generated string to any QR code renderer that fits your application. There are many good libraries and services available for that purpose.

The project was created because the available PHP implementations either required some external libraries to be installed in the system, required commonly blocked functions like proc_open or did not produce a scannable PAY by square code. This is dependency-free and usable anywhere.

Compatibility

• PHP 7.4 to 8.5
• No libraries, no frameworks, no extra services, no special functions
• Requires only the common mbstring PHP extension for UTF-8 length validation

Required fields and supported data

Format	Required fields	Practical minimum	Supported setters
Slovak PAY by square	IBAN, beneficiary name	IBAN, amount, beneficiary name, variable symbol, payment note	setBic, setCurrency, setDueDate, setVariableSymbol, setConstantSymbol, setSpecificSymbol, setOriginatorsReferenceInformation, setPaymentNote, setInvoiceId, setBeneficiaryAddressLine1, setBeneficiaryAddressLine2
Czech QR Platba	IBAN	IBAN, amount, variable symbol	setAmount, setBeneficiaryName, setCurrency, setDueDate, setVariableSymbol, setConstantSymbol, setSpecificSymbol, setPaymentNote, setPaymentType
EPC / SEPA QR	IBAN, beneficiary name	IBAN, amount, beneficiary name, payment reference or payment note	setAmount, setBic, setPaymentNote, setOriginatorsReferenceInformation, setPurpose, setInformation

All formats expose the same fluent API. You may call every setter on any generator; values not supported by the selected format are safely ignored.

Complete setter support matrix

Setter	Example data	PAY by square	Czech QR Platba	EPC / SEPA
setIban()	'SK8075000000004022466192'	Required	Required	Required
setAmount()	'125.50'	Used if set	Used if set	Used if set
setBeneficiaryName()	'Example company s.r.o.'	Required	Used if set	Required
setBic()	'CEKOSKBX'	Used if set	Ignored	Used if set
setCurrency()	'EUR' or 'CZK'	Used if set	Used if set	Ignored; EPC is always EUR
setDueDate()	'2026-08-15'	Used if set	Used if set	Ignored
setVariableSymbol()	'001234'	Used if set	Used if set	Ignored
setConstantSymbol()	'0558'	Used if set	Used if set	Ignored
setSpecificSymbol()	'1234567890'	Used if set	Used if set	Ignored
setOriginatorsReferenceInformation()	'202600123'	Used if set	Ignored	Ignored
setStructuredReference()	'RF18539007547034'	Ignored	Ignored	Used if set; payment note is ignored
setPaymentNote()	'Invoice 202600123'	Used if set	Used if set	Used as unstructured remittance information
setInvoiceId()	'202600123'	Used if set	Ignored	Ignored
setBeneficiaryAddressLine1() / setBeneficiaryAddressLine2()	'Main Street 1'	Used if set	Ignored	Ignored
setPaymentType()	'IP'	Ignored	Used if set	Ignored
setPurpose()	'GDDS'	Ignored	Ignored	Used if set
setInformation()	'Thank you'	Ignored	Ignored	Used if set

Note

For EPC, setStructuredReference() is a structured creditor reference (a structured payment reference for the recipient): a standardized machine-readable reference beginning with RF, for example RF18539007547034. setPaymentNote() is unstructured remittance information (a free-text payment reference for the recipient), such as Invoice 202600123. When both are set, the structured reference takes precedence and the payment note is ignored. setInformation() is beneficiary-to-originator information (a message from the recipient to the payer).

How to pass data

Pass the values in their business form. The generators normalize IBAN and BIC whitespace and letter case, validate format-specific limits, and throw InvalidArgumentException when a value is invalid.

$generator
    ->setIban('SK80 7500 0000 0040 2246 6192') // string; spaces are accepted
    ->setBic('CEKOSKBX') // string; Czech QR Platba safely ignores it
    ->setBeneficiaryName('Řehoř Žížala') // UTF-8 string
    ->setAmount('125.50') // exact decimal string, never a float
    ->setVariableSymbol('001234') // string to preserve leading zeroes
    ->setDueDate('2026-08-15'); // YYYY-MM-DD string or DateTimeInterface

Why is the amount a string?

Payment QR formats require an exact decimal representation with a period as the decimal separator. PHP floats cannot safely represent many decimal values: for example, 0.1 + 0.2 can internally become 0.30000000000000004. Pass an exact string such as '125.50' instead.

If your application stores money in minor units, for example 12550 cents, convert it to an exact decimal string at the application boundary before calling setAmount(). Do not pass a value formatted with a comma, currency symbol, or thousands separator.

Formatting summary

Setter	Type	Accepted format
setIban()	string	IBAN; spaces are accepted and removed.
setBic()	string or null	BIC / SWIFT; spaces are accepted and removed.
setAmount()	string or null	Decimal number with .; never a float.
setBeneficiaryName() / setPaymentNote()	string	Plain UTF-8 text; do not URL-encode it yourself.
setVariableSymbol() / setConstantSymbol() / setSpecificSymbol()	string or null	Digits only; use strings to preserve leading zeroes.
setDueDate()	string, DateTimeInterface, or null	YYYY-MM-DD when passing a string.

Install

composer require hlavtox/qr-payment-string-generator

Slovak PAY by square

use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\PayBySquarePaymentStringGenerator;

$payload = (new PayBySquarePaymentStringGenerator())
    ->setIban('SK8075000000004022466192')
    ->setAmount('49.00')
    ->setBeneficiaryName('Example company s.r.o.')
    ->setBic('CEKOSKBX')
    ->setVariableSymbol('202600123')
    ->setPaymentNote('Invoice 202600123')
    ->setDueDate('2026-08-15')
    ->generate();

Czech QR Platba

use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\CzechQrPaymentStringGenerator;

$payload = (new CzechQrPaymentStringGenerator())
    ->setIban('CZ330100000000002970297')
    ->setAmount('555.55')
    ->setVariableSymbol('202600123')
    ->generate();

EPC / SEPA QR

use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\EpcQrPaymentStringGenerator;

$payload = (new EpcQrPaymentStringGenerator())
    ->setIban('SK8075000000004022466192')
    ->setAmount('49.00')
    ->setBeneficiaryName('Example company s.r.o.')
    ->setBic('CEKOSKBX')
    ->setPaymentNote('Invoice 202600123')
    ->generate();

Common e-commerce usage

use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\CzechQrPaymentStringGenerator;
use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\EpcQrPaymentStringGenerator;
use Hlavtox\QrPaymentStringGenerator\PayBySquarePaymentStringGenerator;

// Store the recipient details once in application configuration
$shopConfiguration = [
    'iban' => 'SK8075000000004022466192',
    'bic' => 'CEKOSKBX',
    'beneficiaryName' => 'Example company s.r.o.',
];

// Take payment-specific data from the order or invoice
$orderInformation = [
    'amount' => '49.00',
    'currency' => 'EUR',
    'country' => 'AT',
    'orderNumber' => '202600123',
];

// Select the appropriate QR type
if ($orderInformation['currency'] === 'CZK' && $orderInformation['country'] === 'CZ') {
    $generator = new CzechQrPaymentStringGenerator();
} elseif ($orderInformation['currency'] === 'EUR' && $orderInformation['country'] === 'SK') {
    $generator = new PayBySquarePaymentStringGenerator();
} elseif ($orderInformation['currency'] === 'EUR') {
    $generator = new EpcQrPaymentStringGenerator();
} else {
    // Exception, return...
}

$payload = $generator
    ->setIban($shopConfiguration['iban'])
    ->setBic($shopConfiguration['bic'])
    ->setBeneficiaryName($shopConfiguration['beneficiaryName'])
    ->setAmount($orderInformation['amount'])
    ->setCurrency($orderInformation['currency'])
    ->setVariableSymbol($orderInformation['orderNumber'])
    ->setPaymentNote('Order ' . $orderInformation['orderNumber'])
    ->generate();