Code 93

"WIKIPEDIA" encoded in Code 93

Code 93 is a barcode symbology designed in 1982 by Intermec to provide a higher density and data security enhancement to Code 39. It is an alphanumeric, variable length symbology. Code 93 is used primarily by Canada Post to encode supplementary delivery information. Every symbol includes two check characters.

Each Code 93 character is nine modules wide, and always has three bars and three spaces, thus the name. Each bar and space is from 1 to 4 modules wide. (For comparison, a Code 39 character consists of five bars and four spaces, three of which are wide, for a total width of 13–16 modules.)

Code 93 is designed to encode the same 26 upper case letters, 10 digits and 7 special characters as code 39:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- . $ / + % SPACE

In addition to 43 characters, Code 93 defines 5 special characters (including a start/stop character), which can be combined with other characters to unambiguously represent all 128 ASCII characters.

In an open system, the minimum value of X dimension is 7.5 mils (0.19 mm). The minimum bar height is 15 percent of the symbol length or 0.25 inches (6.4 mm), whichever is greater. The starting and trailing quiet zone should be at least 0.25 inches (6.4 mm).

Structure of a code 93 barcode

A typical code 93 barcode has the following structure:

  • A start character *
  • Encoded message
  • First modulo-47 check character "C"
  • Second modulo-47 check character "K"
  • Stop character *
  • Termination bar

Detailed outline

The 48 possible code-93 symbols are as follows. There are actually = 56 combinations that satisfy the coding rules, but one would be confused with the stop symbol in reverse, and the other 7 are unused. Codes 43–46 can be prefixed to alphanumeric values to produce all 128 possible ASCII codes. This is done in exactly the same way as Full ASCII Code 39, but uses reserved codes rather than re-using codes 39–42.

Code 93 bar code
ID Character Widths Binary ID Character Widths Binary
0 0 131112 100010100 28 S 211122 110101100
1 1 111213 101001000 29 T 211221 110100110
2 2 111312 101000100 30 U 221121 110010110
3 3 111411 101000010 31 V 222111 110011010
4 4 121113 100101000 32 W 112122 101101100
5 5 121212 100100100 33 X 112221 101100110
6 6 121311 100100010 34 Y 122121 100110110
7 7 111114 101010000 35 Z 123111 100111010
8 8 131211 100010010 36 - 121131 100101110
9 9 141111 100001010 37 . 311112 111010100
10 A 211113 110101000 38 SPACE 311211 111010010
11 B 211212 110100100 39 $ 321111 111001010
12 C 211311 110100010 40 / 112131 101101110
13 D 221112 110010100 41 + 113121 101110110
14 E 221211 110010010 42 % 211131 110101110
15 F 231111 110001010 43 ($) 121221 100100110
16 G 112113 101101000 44 (%) 312111 111011010
17 H 112212 101100100 45 (/) 311121 111010110
18 I 112311 101100010 46 (+) 122211 100110010
19 J 122112 100110100 Start/Stop * 111141 101011110
20 K 132111 100011010 (Reverse stop) 114111 101111010
21 L 111123 101011000 Unused 411111 111101010
22 M 111222 101001100 111132 101011100
23 N 111321 101000110 111231 101001110
24 O 121122 100101100 113112 101110100
25 P 131121 100010110 113211 101110010
26 Q 212112 110110100 213111 110111010
27 R 212211 110110010 212121 110110110

Full ASCII Code 93

Code 93 is restricted to 43 characters and 5 special characters. In Full ASCII Code 93, the 43 basic symbols (0–9, A-Z, "-", ".", "$", "/", "+" and "%") are the same as their representations in Code 93. Lower case letters, additional punctuation characters and control characters are represented by sequences of two characters of Code 93.

This encoding is the same as Full ASCII Code 39, except that four special-purpose symbols are used, rather than reassigning $, /, + and %:

Code details
Nr Character Encoding     Nr Character Encoding     Nr Character Encoding     Nr Character Encoding
0 NUL (%)U 32 [space] [space] 64 @ (%)V 96 ` (%)W
1 SOH ($)A 33 ! (/)A 65 A A 97 a (+)A
2 STX ($)B 34 " (/)B 66 B B 98 b (+)B
3 ETX ($)C 35 # (/)C 67 C C 99 c (+)C
4 EOT ($)D 36 $ $ 68 D D 100 d (+)D
5 ENQ ($)E 37 % % 69 E E 101 e (+)E
6 ACK ($)F 38 & (/)F 70 F F 102 f (+)F
7 BEL ($)G 39 ' (/)G 71 G G 103 g (+)G
8 BS ($)H 40 ( (/)H 72 H H 104 h (+)H
9 HT ($)I 41 ) (/)I 73 I I 105 i (+)I
10 LF ($)J 42 * (/)J 74 J J 106 j (+)J
11 VT ($)K 43 + + 75 K K 107 k (+)K
12 FF ($)L 44 , (/)L 76 L L 108 l (+)L
13 CR ($)M 45 - - 77 M M 109 m (+)M
14 SO ($)N 46 . . 78 N N 110 n (+)N
15 SI ($)O 47 / / 79 O O 111 o (+)O
16 DLE ($)P 48 0 0 80 P P 112 p (+)P
17 DC1 ($)Q 49 1 1 81 Q Q 113 q (+)Q
18 DC2 ($)R 50 2 2 82 R R 114 r (+)R
19 DC3 ($)S 51 3 3 83 S S 115 s (+)S
20 DC4 ($)T 52 4 4 84 T T 116 t (+)T
21 NAK ($)U 53 5 5 85 U U 117 u (+)U
22 SYN ($)V 54 6 6 86 V V 118 v (+)V
23 ETB ($)W 55 7 7 87 W W 119 w (+)W
24 CAN ($)X 56 8 8 88 X X 120 x (+)X
25 EM ($)Y 57 9 9 89 Y Y 121 y (+)Y
26 SUB ($)Z 58 : (/)Z 90 Z Z 122 z (+)Z
27 ESC (%)A 59 ; (%)F 91 [ (%)K 123 { (%)P
28 FS (%)B 60 < (%)G 92 \ (%)L 124 | (%)Q
29 GS (%)C 61 = (%)H 93 ] (%)M 125 } (%)R
30 RS (%)D 62 > (%)I 94 ^ (%)N 126 ~ (%)S
31 US (%)E 63 ? (%)J 95 _ (%)O 127 DEL (%)T, (%)X, (%)Y, (%)Z

References