1BARCODE(1) GNU barcode BARCODE(1)
2
6 barcode - a stand alone program to run the barcode library
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9 barcode [-b - | string] [-e encoding] [-o - | outfile] [ other-flags ]
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12 The information below is extracted from the texinfo file, which is the
13 preferred source of information.
14 The barcode program is a front-end to access some features of the
16 library from the command line. It is able to read user supplied
17 strings from the command line or a data file (standard input by
18 default) and encode all of them.
19
22 barcode accepts the following options:
23 --help or -h
25 Print a usage summary and exit.
26 -i filename
28 Identify a file where strings to be encoded are read from. If
29 missing (and if -b is not used) it defaults to standard input.
30 Each data line of the input file will be used to create one bar‐
31 code output.
32 -o filename
34 Output file. It defaults to standard output.
35 -b string
37 Specify a single ``barcode'' string to be encoded. The option
38 can be used multiple times in order to encode multiple strings
39 (this will result in multi-page postscript output or a table of
40 barcodes if -t is specified). The strings must match the encod‐
41 ing chosen; if it doesn't match the program will print a warning
42 to stderr and generate ``blank'' output (although not zero-
43 length). Please note that a string including spaces or other
44 special characters must be properly quoted.
45 -e encoding
47 encoding is the name of the chosen encoding format being used.
48 It defaults to the value of the environment variable BAR‐
49 CODE_ENCODING or to auto detection if the environment is also
50 unset.
51 -g geometry
53 The geometry argument is of the form ``[<width> x <height>] [+
54 <xmargin> + <ymargin>]'' (with no intervening spaces). Unspeci‐
55 fied margin values will result in no margin; unspecified size
56 results in default size. The specified values represent print
57 points by default, and can be inches, millimeters or other units
58 according to the -u option or the BARCODE_UNIT environment vari‐
59 able. The argument is used to place the printout code on the
60 page. Note that an additional white margin of 10 points is added
61 to the printout. If the option is unspecified, BARCODE_GEOMETRY
62 is looked up in the environment, if missing a default size and
63 no margin (but the default 10 points) are used.
64 -t table-geometry
66 Used to print several barcodes to a single page, this option is
67 meant to be used to print stickers. The argument is of the form
68 ``<columns> x <lines> [+ <leftmargin> + <bottommargin> [-
69 <rightmargin> [- <topmargin>]]]'' (with no intervening spaces);
70 if missing, the top and right margin will default to be the same
71 as the bottom and left margin. The margins are specified in
72 print points or in the chosen unit (see -u below). If the
73 option is not specified, BARCODE_TABLE is looked up in the envi‐
74 ronment, otherwise no table is printed and each barcode will get
75 its own page. The size (but not the position) of a barcode item
76 within a table can also be selected using -g (see "geometry"
77 above), without struggling with external and internal margins.
78 I still think management of geometries in a table is suboptimal,
79 but I can't make it better without introducing incompatibili‐
80 ties.
81 -m margin(s)
83 Specifies an internal margin for each sticker in the table. The
84 argument is of the form ``<xmargin>,<ymargin>'' and the margin
85 is applied symmetrically to the sticker. If unspecified, the
86 environment variable BARCODE_MARGIN is used or a default inter‐
87 nal margin of 10 points is used.
88 -n ``Numeric'' output: don't print the ASCII form of the code, only
90 the bars.
91 -c No checksum character (for encodings that allow it, like code
93 39, other codes, like UPC or EAN, ignore this option).
94 -E Encapsulated postscript (default is normal postscript). When the
96 output is generated as EPS only one barcode is encoded.
97 -P PCL output. Please note that the Y direction goes from top to
99 bottom for PCL, and the origin for an image is the top-left cor‐
100 ner instead of the bottom-left
101 -p pagesize
103 Specify a non-default page size. The page size can be specified
104 in millimeters, inches or plain numbers (for example:
105 "210x297mm", "8.5x11in", "595x842"). A page specification as
106 numbers will be interpreted according to the current unit speci‐
107 fication (see -u below). If libpaper is available, you can also
108 specify the page size with its name, like "A3" or "letter" (lib‐
109 paper is a standard component of Debian GNU/Linux, but may be
110 missing elsewhere). The default page size is your system-wide
111 default if libpaper is there, A4 otherwise.
112 -u unit
114 Choose the unit used in size specifications. Accepted values are
115 ``mm'', ``cm'', ``in'' and ``pt''. By default, the program will
116 check BARCODE_UNIT in the environment, and assume points other‐
117 wise (this behaviour is compatible with 0.92 and previous ver‐
118 sions. If -u appears more than once, each instance will modified
119 the behaviour for the arguments at its right, as the command
120 line is processes left to right. The program internally works
121 with points, and any size is approximated to the nearest multi‐
122 ple of one point. The -u option affect -g (geometry), -t (table)
123 and -p (page size).
124
127 The program encodes text strings passed either on the command line
128 (with -b) or retrieved from standard input. The text representation is
129 interpreted according to the following rules. When auto-detection of
130 the encoding is enabled (i.e, no explicit encoding type is specified),
131 the encoding types are scanned to find one that can digest the text
132 string. The following list of supported types is sorted in the same
133 order the library uses when auto-detecting a suitable encoding for a
134 string.
135 EAN The EAN frontend is similar to UPC; it accepts strings of dig‐
137 its, 12 or 7 characters long. Strings of 13 or 8 characters are
138 accepted if the provided checksum digit is correct. I expect
139 most users to feed input without a checksum, though. The add-2
140 and add-5 extension are accepted for both the EAN-13 and the
141 EAN-8 encodings. The following are example of valid input
142 strings: ``123456789012'' (EAN-13), ``1234567890128'' (EAN-13
143 wih checksum), ``1234567'' (EAN-8), ``12345670 12345'' (EAN-8
144 with checksum and add-5), ``123456789012 12'' (EAN-13 with
145 add-2), ``123456789012 12345'' (EAN-13 with add-5).
146 UPC The UPC frontend accepts only strings made up of digits (and, if
148 a supplemental encoding is used, a blank to separate it). It
149 accepts strings of 11 or 12 digits (UPC-A) and 6 or 7 or 8 dig‐
150 its (UPC-E).
151 The 12th digit of UPC-A is the checksum and is added by the library if
154 not specified in the input; if it is specified, it must be the right
155 checksum or the code is rejected as invalid. For UPC-E, 6 digit are
156 considered to be the middle part of the code, a leading 0 is assumed
157 and the checksum is added; 7 digits are either considered the initial
158 part (leading digit 0 or 1, checksum missing) or the final part (check‐
159 sum specified, leading 0 assumed); 8 digits are considered to be the
160 complete code, with leading 0 or 1 and checksum. For both UPC-A and
161 UPC-E, a trailing string of 2 digits or 5 digits is accepted as well.
162 Therefore, the following are examples of valid strings that can be
163 encoded as UPC: ``01234567890'' (UPC-A) ``012345678905'' (UPC-A with
164 checksum), ``012345'' (UPC-E), ``01234567890 12'' (UPC-A, add-2) and
165 ``01234567890 12345'' (UPC-A, add-5), ``0123456 12'' (UPC-E, add-2).
166 Please note that when setting BARCODE_ANY to auto-detect the encoding
167 to be used, 12-digit strings and 7-digit strings will always be identi‐
168 fied as EAN. This because I expect most user to provide input without a
169 checksum. If you need to specify UPC-with-checksum as input you must
170 explicitly set BARCODE_UPC as a flag or use -e upc on the command line.
171 ISBN ISBN numbers are encoded as EAN-13 symbols, with an optional
173 add-5 trailer. The ISBN frontend of the library accepts real
174 ISBN numbers and deals with any hyphen and, if present, the ISBN
175 checksum character before encoding data. Valid representations
176 for ISBN strings are for example: ``1-56592-292-1'',
177 ``3-89721-122-X'' and ``3-89721-122-X 06900}''.
178 code 128-B
180 This encoding can represent all of the printing ASCII charac‐
181 ters, from the space (32) to DEL (127). The checksum digit is
182 mandatory in this encoding.
183 code 128-C
185 The ``C'' variation of Code-128 uses Code-128 symbols to repre‐
186 sent two digits at a time (Code-128 is made up of 104 symbols
187 whose interpretation is controlled by the start symbol being
188 used). Code 128-C is thus the most compact way to represent any
189 even number of digits. The encoder refuses to deal with an odd
190 number of digits because the caller is expected to provide
191 proper padding to an even number of digits. (Since Code-128
192 includes control symbols to switch charset, it is theoretically
193 possible to represent the odd digit as a Code 128-A or 128-B
194 symbol, but this tool doesn't currently implement this option).
195 code 128 raw
197 Code-128 output represented symbol-by-symbol in the input
198 string. To override part of the problems outlined below in
199 specifying code128 symbols, this pseudo-encoding allows the used
200 to specify a list of code128 symbols separated by spaces. Each
201 symbol is represented by a number in the range 0-105. The list
202 should include the leading character.The checksum and the stop
203 character are automatically added by the library. Most likely
204 this pseudo-encoding will be used with BARCODE_NO_ASCII and some
205 external program to supply the printed text.
206 code 39
208 The code-39 standard can encode uppercase letters, digits, the
209 blank space, plus, minus, dot, star, dollar, slash, percent.
210 Any string that is only composed of such characters is accepted
211 by the code-39 encoder. To avoid loosing information, the
212 encoder refuses to encode mixed-case strings (a lowercase string
213 is nonetheless accepted as a shortcut, but is encoded as upper‐
214 case).
215 interleaved 2 of 5
217 This encoding can only represent an even number of digits (odd
218 digits are represented by bars, and even digits by the inter‐
219 leaving spaces). The name stresses the fact that two of the five
220 items (bars or spaces) allocated to each symbol are wide, while
221 the rest are narrow. The checksum digit is optional (can be dis‐
222 abled via BARCODE_NO_CHECKSUM). Since the number of digits,
223 including the checksum, must be even, a leading zero is inserted
224 in the string being encoded if needed (this is specifically
225 stated in the specs I have access to).
226 code 128
228 Automatic selection between alphabet A, B and C of the Code-128
229 standard. This encoding can represent all ASCII symbols, from 0
230 (NUL) to 127 (DEL), as well as four special symbols, named F1,
231 F2, F3, F4. The set of symbols available in this encoding is not
232 easily represented as input to the barcode library, so the fol‐
233 lowing convention is used. In the input string, which is a C-
234 language null-terminated string, the NUL char is represented by
235 the value 128 (0x80, 0200) and the F1-F4 characters are repre‐
236 sented by the values 193-196 (0xc1-0xc4, 0301-0304). The values
237 have been chosen to ease their representation as escape
238 sequences.
239 Since the shell doesn't seem to interpret escape sequences on the com‐
242 mand line, the "-b" option cannot be easily used to designate the
243 strings to be encoded. As a workaround you can resort to the command
244 echo, either within back-ticks or used separately to create a file that
245 is then fed to the standard-input of barcode -- assuming your echo com‐
246 mand processes escape sequences. The newline character is especially
247 though to encode (but not impossible unless you use a csh variant.
248 These problems only apply to the command-line tool; the use of library
251 functions doesn't give any problem. In needed, you can use the ``code
252 128 raw'' pseudo-encoding to represent code128 symbols by their numeri‐
253 cal value. This encoding is used late in the auto-selection mechanism
254 because (almost) any input string can be represented using code128.
255 Codabar
257 Codabar can encode the ten digits and a few special symbols
258 (minus, plus, dollar, colon, bar, dot). The characters ``A'',
259 ``B'', ``C'' and ``D'' are used to represent four different
260 start/stop characters. The input string to the barcode library
261 can include the start and stop characters or not include them
262 (in which case ``A'' is used as start and ``B'' as stop). Start
263 and stop characters in the input string can be either all lower‐
264 case or all uppercase and are always printed as uppercase.
265 Plessey
267 Plessey barcodes can encode all the hexadecimal digits. Alpha‐
268 betic digits in the input string must either be all lowercase or
269 all uppercase. The output text is always uppercase.
270 MSI MSI can only encode the decimal digits. While the standard spec‐
272 ifies either one or two check digits, the current implementation
273 in this library only generates one check digit.
274 code 93
276 The code-93 standard can natively encode 48 different charac‐
277 ters, including uppercase letters, digits, the blank space,
278 plus, minus, dot, star, dollar, slash, percent, as well as five
279 special characters: a start/stop delimiter and four "shift
280 characters" used for extended encoding. Using this "extended
281 encoding" method, any standard 7-bit ASCII character can be
282 encoded, but it takes up two symbol lengths in barcode if the
283 character is not natively supported (one of the 48). The
284 encoder here fully implements the code 93 encoding standard.
285 Any characters natively supported (A-Z, 0-9, ".+-/$ encoded as
286 such - for any other characters (such as lower case letters,
287 brackets, parentheses, etc.), the encoder will revert to
288 extended encoding. As a note, the option to exclude the check‐
289 sum will eliminate the two modulo-47 checksums (called C and K)
290 from the barcode, but this probably will make it unreadable by 9
291 These checksums are specified to be used at the firmware level,
292 and their absence will be interpreted as an invalid barcode.
293
296 While the default output is Postscript (possibly EPS), and Postscript
297 can be post-processed to almost anything, it is sometimes desirable to
298 create output directly usable by the specific printer at hand. PCL is
299 currently supported as an output format for this reason. Please note
300 that the Y coordinate for PCL goes from top to bottom, while for Post‐
301 script it goes from bottom to top. Consistently, while in Postscript
302 you specify the bottom-left corner as origin, for PCL you specify the
303 top-left corner.
304 Barcode output for PCL Printers (HP LaserJet and compatibles), was
307 developed using PCL5 Reference manuals from HP. that really refers to
308 these printers:
309 LaserJet III, III P, III D, III Si,
312 LaserJet 4 family
315 LaserJet 5 family
318 LaserJet 6 family
321 Color LaserJet
324 DeskJet 1200 and 1600.
327 However, barcode printing uses a very small subset of PCL, probably
330 also LaserJet II should print it without problem, but the resulting
331 text may be horrible.
332 The only real difference from one printer to another really depends on
335 which font are available in the printer, used in printing the label
336 associated to the bars (if requested).
337 Earlier LaserJet supports only bitmaps fonts, so these are not "scal‐
340 able". (Ljet II ?), Also these fonts, when available, have a specified
341 direction, and not all of them are available in both Portrait and Land‐
342 scape mode.
343 From LaserJet 4 series, (except 4L/5L that are entry-level printers),
346 Arial scalable font should be available, so it's the "default font"
347 used by this program.
348 LaserJet III series printers (and 4L, 5L), don't feature "Arial" as a
351 resident font, so you should use BARCODE_OUT_PCL_III instead of BAR‐
352 CODE_OUT_PCL., and font the font used will be "Univers" instead of
353 "Arial".
354 Results on compatible printers, may depend on consistency of PCL5 com‐
357 patibility, in doubt, try BARCODE_OUT_PCL_III
358 PJL commands are not used here, as it's not very compatible.
361 Tested Printers:
364 Hp LaserJet 4050
367 Hp LaserJet 2100
370 Epson N-1200 emul PCL
373 Toshiba DP2570 (copier) + PCL option
376 Epson EPL-7100 emul. HP LaserJet II: bars print fine but text is bad.
379
382 The current management of borders/margins is far from optimal. The
383 ``default'' margin applied by the library interferes with the external
384 representation, but I feel it is mandatory to avoid creating barcode
385 output with no surrounding white space (the problem is especially rele‐
386 vant for EPS output).
387 EAN-128 is not (yet) supported. I plan to implement it pretty soon and
390 then bless the package as version 1.0.
391
394 barcode(3)
395
397 Alessandro Rubini <rubini@gnu.org> (maintainer)
398 Leonid A. Broukhis <leob@mailcom.com> (several encodings)
400 Andrea Scopece <a.scopece@tin.it> (PCL output)
4024th Berkeley Distribution October 2001 BARCODE(1)