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Codabar is a nice barcode symbology that is often overlooked. One of the more difficult aspects, yet one of the handiest of the symbology, is the fact that it allows four different start and stop characters. This can be handy in that it allows 16 different variations of a given number.
For instance say there is a product with an ID number of 12345. The barcode needs to be encoded with a start character of A, B, C, or D. Then the barcode needs to end with a stop character of A, B, C, or D. This allows 16 different variations on the ID number: A12345A
| A12345B | A12345C | A12345D B12345A | B12345B | B12345C | B12345D C12345A | C12345B | c12345C | C12345D D12345A | D12345B | D12345C | D12345D Obviously
this has some very good features. If
you sold T-Shirts, for instance, you could embed your sizing
information in the combination of start and stop characters, while
maintaining a static style code in the middle. It could keep you from
having to create all new ID numbers for each size shirt in the same
style.
The other obvious advantage to Codabar in terms of barcode fonts is that the standard does not require a check digit. You can type A12345B straight from the keyboard and have a working barcode. Codabar only allows the following characters: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - $ : / . + As well as the Start / Stop characters A, B, C, and D. And then comes the bad part. The start and stop characters are embedded in your barcode. If you create a Codabar barcode of A12345D then your scanner will read back A12345D. There's not much of a way around it unless you were to utilize a specific barcode scanner for just Codabar and program the scanner to drop the first and last digit. An inelegant solution but a possible one nonetheless.
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