What is Code 39?

Code 3 of 9 can use alphanumeric data and is very easy to use.

How do I format the Barcode?

This is very easy indeed; the data you encode is the data, which is configured for the final data code. For example if we use the following data for our example. 12345ABCDE/

The start and stop character is the asterisk symbol (ASCII 42)

The final code is printed as *12345ABCDE/*

Can I have a check digit with 3 of 9?

Yes you can, the check digit is the modulus 43 sum of all the character values in a given message, and is printed as the last character of the readable information on a barcode.

Our data: 123456ABCDE/

Data 1 2 3 4 5 6 A B C D E /
Values 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 13 14 40


Sum of ASCII Values taken from character table = 1+2+3+4+5+10+11+12+13+14+40 = 115

Calculate the check digit by finding the Modula 43 from the sum of ASCII values.

Use a calculator and enter 115. Divide by 43, then minus the number before the decimal point which is 2. Now multiply by 43 which gives you remainder 29.

The check digit is the character corresponding to the value of the remainder, which in the example above is 29 or ‘T’ (as referred to below).

Compiling the Code 39

Start Character    *
Data                   123456ABCDE/
Check Digit          T
Stop Character    *

Barcode Font Sample.

code39check.gif (3742 bytes)

Can I use full ASCII character set with Code 39?

Yes you can decode the 128 ASCII character set by using paired character sequences made up of the characters $ . % or / followed by one of the 26 letters shown on the FULL ASCII table.

Code 39 Character Table

Character

Value

Character

Value

0

0

M

22

1

1

N

23

2

2

O

24

3

3

P

25

4

4

Q

26

5

5

R

27

6

6

S

28

7

7

T

29

8

8

U

30

9

9

V

31

A

10

W

32

B

11

X

33

C

12

Y

34

D

13

Z

35

E

14

-

36

F

15

.

37

G

16

Space

38

H

17

$

39

I

18

/

40

J

19

+

41

K

20

%

42

L

21

Please note the space character is encoded as a comma.

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