Contents
- Index
UPC - Universal product code.
Widely used in the USA as a retail code.
UPC-A is a 12 digit, numeric symbology used in retail applications. UPC-A symbols consist of 11 data digits and one check digit. The first digit is a number system digit that usually represents the type of product being identified. The following 5 digits are a manufacturers code and the next 5 digits are used to identify a specific product.
UPC-E is a smaller, six digit, UPC symbology for number system 0. It is often used for small retail items. UPC-E is also called "zero suppressed" because UPC-E compresses a normal 12 digit UPC-A code into a six digit code by "suppressing" the number system digit, trailing zeros in the manufacturers code and leading zeros in the product identification part of the bar code. A seventh check digit is encoded into a parity pattern for the six main digits. UPC-E can thus be uncompressed into a standard UPC-A 12 digit number.
For UPC-E bar codes, you may enter up to 6 digits. Again, B-Coder will calculate the check digit and truncate or pad the number to a total length of 6 digits as with UPC-A.
UPC-A :
one number system digit ( 0 for the retail system )
10 digit code
check digit