FIX message delimiter

Question

I am relatively new to FIX-Protocol.

The delimiter for a FIX-Protocol message sometimes show ^ and other times |. Wikipedia for FIX-Protocol says [SOH]

Answer 1

FIX messages always have 0x01 between fields in the message, whether it is on the wire, in an OMS/EMS or in a log file. It is only when the message has to be displayed that the substitution is made (OK, some people may make their log files clean and so transcribe the character). It is never the case that a valid FIX message will have pipes or carets separating fields. It is also the case that a FIX message will never have anywhere than between fields. ( is a character which shouldn't appear in printed text - FIX messages are supposed to be readable - and it won't clash with that terminates a C string, so the whole message can be treated as a string, if you are so inclined.)