UPC A - terryburton/postscriptbarcode GitHub Wiki

The UPC-A barcode symbology is used for identification of retail goods at point of sale inside of the US. It usually carries a GTIN-12.

Also known as: UPC, Universal Product Code.

Misnomers: UCC-12.

Variants:

UPC-A+2 is an extension of UPC-A that includes a two-digit add-on.
UPC-A+5 is an extension of UPC-A that includes a five-digit add-on.
UPC-E is a barcode symbology derived from UPC-A that is designed for small packaging.
UPC-A Composite is a variant of UPC-A that should be used when a CC-A or CC-B GS1 composite 2D component is required.
A UPC-A symbol can be converted to an EAN-13 symbol by prefixing the GTIN-12 with 0 to make the equivalent GTIN-13.

Standards: ISO/IEC 15420, BS EN 797, GS1 General Specifications.

The data field for a UPC-A may contain eleven or twelve digits, optionally followed by a space then two or five digits if an EAN-2 or EAN-5 add-on is required.
Alternatively, the data field may contain seven or eight digits of a UPC-E to produce the equivalent UPC-A symbol.
If eleven digits of primary data are supplied then the check digit is calculated automatically. Otherwise the provided check digit will be verified.
The includetext option should normally be supplied.

Identical symbols, input provided with and without a check digit:

Data:    012345000058
Options: includetext
Encoder: upca

Data:    01234500005
Options: includetext
Encoder: upca

A symbol that includes a five-digit add-on:

Data:    012345000058 54499
Options: includetext guardwhitespace
Encoder: upca