diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 78d4913..dbd3da3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,11 +5,14 @@
 <a href="https://packagist.org/packages/aranyasen/hl7"><img src="https://poser.pugx.org/aranyasen/hl7/license" alt="License"></a>
 </p>
 
-**Important: Minimum supported PHP version has been updated to 8.0 <br>
-Last supported versions: <br>
--> PHP 7.0 or 7.1 => [1.5.4](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/1.5.4)<br>
--> PHP 7.2 => [2.0.2](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/2.0.2)<br>
--> PHP 7.4 => [2.1.7](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/2.1.7)**
+## Important
+- Minimum supported PHP version has been updated to 8.0 <br>
+    Last supported versions: <br>
+    - PHP 7.0 or 7.1 => [1.5.4](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/1.5.4)<br>
+    - PHP 7.2 => [2.0.2](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/2.0.2)<br>
+    - PHP 7.4 => [2.1.7](https://github.com/senaranya/HL7/tree/2.1.7)
+- The global setting `SEGMENT_ENDING_BAR` is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use
+`WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR` instead.
 
 ## Introduction
 
@@ -92,10 +95,10 @@ $message = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\rPV1|1|O|^AAAA1^^^BB|", null, true); // Thi
 $pv1 = $message->getSegmentByIndex(1);
 $fields = $pv1->getField(3); // $fields is ['', 'AAAA1', '', '', 'BB']
 
-// Create/send message with segment-ending bar character (|) removed
-$message = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx\n", ['SEGMENT_ENDING_BAR' => false]);
+// Create/send message with segment-ending field-separator character (default "|") removed
+$message = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx\n", ['WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR' => false]);
 $message->toString(true); // Returns "MSH|^~\&|1\nABC|||xxx\n"
-(new Connection($ip, $port))->send($message); // Sends the message without ending bar-characters (details on Connection below)
+(new Connection($ip, $port))->send($message); // Sends the message without ending field-separator character (details on Connection below)
 
 // Specify custom values for separators, HL7 version etc.
 $message = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\rPV1|1|O|^AAAA1^^^BB|", ['SEGMENT_SEPARATOR' => '\r\n', 'HL7_VERSION' => '2.3']);
diff --git a/src/HL7.php b/src/HL7.php
index 7f6a971..3dc48f1 100644
--- a/src/HL7.php
+++ b/src/HL7.php
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ private function setGlobal(string $name, string $value): self
     private function setDefaults(): void
     {
         $this->hl7Globals['SEGMENT_SEPARATOR'] = '\n';
-        $this->hl7Globals['SEGMENT_ENDING_BAR'] = true;
+        $this->hl7Globals['WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR'] = true;
         $this->hl7Globals['FIELD_SEPARATOR'] = '|';
         $this->hl7Globals['COMPONENT_SEPARATOR'] = '^';
         $this->hl7Globals['SUBCOMPONENT_SEPARATOR'] = '&';
diff --git a/src/HL7/Message.php b/src/HL7/Message.php
index d75adb6..11cc51b 100644
--- a/src/HL7/Message.php
+++ b/src/HL7/Message.php
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class Message
     protected array $segments = [];
 
     protected string $segmentSeparator;
-    protected bool $segmentEndingBar; # true, if '|' at end of each segment is needed
+    protected bool $withSegmentEndingFieldSeparator; # true, if '|' at end of each segment is needed
     protected $fieldSeparator;
     protected string $componentSeparator;
     protected string $subcomponentSeparator;
@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ public function __construct(
     ) {
         // Control characters and other HL7 properties
         $this->segmentSeparator = $hl7Globals['SEGMENT_SEPARATOR'] ?? '\n';
-        $this->segmentEndingBar = $hl7Globals['SEGMENT_ENDING_BAR'] ?? true;
+        $this->withSegmentEndingFieldSeparator =
+            $hl7Globals['WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR'] ?? $hl7Globals['SEGMENT_ENDING_BAR'] ?? true;
         $this->fieldSeparator = $hl7Globals['FIELD_SEPARATOR'] ?? '|';
         $this->componentSeparator = $hl7Globals['COMPONENT_SEPARATOR'] ?? '^';
         $this->subcomponentSeparator = $hl7Globals['SUBCOMPONENT_SEPARATOR'] ?? '&';
@@ -365,8 +366,8 @@ public function toString(bool $pretty = false)
         $message = '';
         foreach ($this->segments as $segment) {
             $segmentString = $this->segmentToString($segment);
-            if (!$this->segmentEndingBar) {
-                $segmentString = preg_replace('/\|$/', '', $segmentString);
+            if (! $this->withSegmentEndingFieldSeparator) {
+                $segmentString = preg_replace('/' . preg_quote($this->fieldSeparator, '/') . '$/', '', $segmentString);
             }
             $message .= $segmentString;
             $message .= $pretty
diff --git a/tests/MessageTest.php b/tests/MessageTest.php
index 754f58f..dc601ec 100644
--- a/tests/MessageTest.php
+++ b/tests/MessageTest.php
@@ -403,6 +403,22 @@ public function segment_ending_bar_can_be_omitted(): void
         self::assertSame("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx|\n", $msg->toString(true), 'Ending bar retains by default');
     }
 
+    /** @test */
+    public function segment_ending_character_can_be_omitted(): void
+    {
+        $msg = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx|\n");
+        self::assertSame("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx|\n", $msg->toString(true), 'Ending bar retains by default');
+
+        $msg = new Message("MSH|^~\\&|1|\nABC|||xxx|\n", ['WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR' => false]);
+        self::assertSame("MSH|^~\\&|1\nABC|||xxx\n", $msg->toString(true), 'No ending bar on each segment');
+
+        $msg = new Message(
+            "MSH#^~\\&#1#\nABC###xxx#\n",
+            ['WITH_SEGMENT_ENDING_FIELD_SEPARATOR' => false, 'FIELD_SEPARATOR' => '#']
+        );
+        self::assertSame("MSH#^~\\&#1\nABC###xxx\n", $msg->toString(true), 'No ending field separator on each segment');
+    }
+
     /** @test */
     public function segment_index_can_be_retrieved_from_a_message(): void
     {