View source for OCR-A

{{Short description|Typeface designed for early computer OCR}}
{{Infobox font
| name = OCR-A
| image = OCR-A font.svg
| sample = [[File:Typeface specimen OCR A.svg|220px]]
| style = Sans-serif
| releasedate = 1968<ref>[https://typekit.com/fonts/ocr-a-std Background on the OCR-A font from Adobe]</ref>
| creator = American Type Founders
| commissioned_by = American National Standards Institute
| variations = OCR-A Extended
}}
'''OCR-A''' is a [[Font|font]] issued in 1966<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/FIPS/fipspub32-1-1981.pdf |title=American National Standard Character Set for Optical Character Recognition (OCR-A) |publisher=American National Standards Institute, Inc |year=1981 |series=ANSI X3.17-1981 |pages=3 |agency=National Institute of Standards and Technology|quote=The OCR-A character set for optical character recognition was first developed in the United States in 1961 as a numeric font only. In 1966 an alphanumeric font which contained 57 characters, including the existing numeric font, 4 abstract characters, and only capital letters, was issued. The revised standard was entitled American National Standard Character Set for Optical Character Recognition, ANSI X3.17-1966.}}</ref> and first implemented in 1968.<ref name=AdobeORCA>{{cite web |url=https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/ocr-a#about-section |title=OCR A |quote=In 1968, American Type Founders produced OCR-A, one of the first optical character recognition typefaces to meet the criteria set by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. The design is simple so that it can be read by a machine, but it is slightly more difficult for the human eye to read. OCR-A follows the 1981 standard set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), X-3.17-1981 (size I). The same design is also specified for the German DIN 66008 standard. OCR-B was designed in 1968 by Adrian Frutiger for Monotype. This design pushes the limits of the optical reader, but is easier for people to read. OCR-B’s construction follows the ISO 1073/II-1976 (E) standard, with 1979 corrections (letterpress design, size I). Both OCR-A and OCR-B have “alternate” versions, which have the standard ISO-Adobe character set instead of the more limited OCR character set. }}</ref> A special font was needed in the early days of computer [[Optical character recognition|optical character recognition]], when there was a need for a font that could be recognized not only by the computers of that day, but also by humans.<ref>[http://www.microscan.com/en-us/technology/opticalcharacterrecognition.aspx Motivation for OCR-A from Microscan]</ref> OCR-A uses simple, thick strokes to form recognizable characters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://embeddedengineeringgroup.com/ESE/auto-id.html |title=Background on OCR from Embedded Software Engineering |access-date=2012-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917080003/http://embeddedengineeringgroup.com/ESE/auto-id.html |archive-date=2016-09-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The font is [[Monospaced font|monospaced]] (fixed-width), with the printer required to place glyphs {{val|0.254}}&nbsp;cm ({{val|0.10}}&nbsp;inch) apart, and the reader required to accept any spacing between {{val|0.2286}}&nbsp;cm ({{val|0.09}}&nbsp;inch) and {{val|0.4572}}&nbsp;cm ({{val|0.18}}&nbsp;inch).

==Standardization==
The OCR-A font was standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
as ANSI X3.17-1981.  X3.4 has since become the [[Organization:International Committee for Information Technology Standards|INCITS]] and the OCR-A standard is now called '''ISO 1073-1:1976'''.

==Implementations==
In 1968, American Type Founders produced OCR-A, one of the first optical character recognition typefaces to meet the criteria set by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. The design is simple so that it can be easily read by a machine, but it is more difficult for the human eye to read.<ref name=AdobeORCA />

As metal type gave way to computer-based typesetting, Tor Lillqvist used [[Software:Metafont|Metafont]] to describe the OCR-A font.{{when|date=November 2017}}  That definition was subsequently improved by Richard B. Wales.  Their work is available from [[CTAN]].<ref>[https://ctan.org/pkg/ocr-a The MetaFont sources for OCR-A from CTAN]</ref>

To make the free version of the font more accessible to users of Microsoft Windows, John Sauter converted the Metafont definitions to [[TrueType]] using [[Software:Potrace|potrace]] and [[Software:FontForge|FontForge]] in 2004.<ref>[http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=121297 John Sauter's 2004 OCR-A font from those MetaFont sources]</ref>  In 2007, Gürkan Sengün created a [[Software:Debian|Debian]] package from this implementation.<ref>[https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/fonts-ocr-a The fonts-ocr-a Debian package, based on John Sauter's SourceForge project]</ref>  In 2008. Luc Devroye corrected the vertical positioning in John Sauter's implementation, and fixed the name of lower case z.<ref>[http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-48501.html Luc Devroye's account of his changes to John Sauter's implementation of OCR-A]</ref>

Independently, Matthew Skala<ref>[https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/ Matthew Skala's home page]</ref> used mftrace<ref>[http://packages.debian.org/mftrace The mftrace Debian package]</ref> to convert the [[Software:Metafont|Metafont]] definitions to TrueType format in 2006.  In 2011 he released a new version created by rewriting the Metafont definitions to work with [[Software:METATYPE1|METATYPE1]], generating outlines directly without an intermediate tracing step.  On September 27, 2012, he updated his implementation to version 0.2.<ref>[http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/page/fonts#ocra Matthew Skala's 2012 OCR-A font from the MetaFont sources]</ref>

In addition to these free implementations of OCR-A, there are also implementations sold by several vendors. As a joke, Tobias Frere-Jones in 1995 created Estupido-Espezial, a redesign with swashes and a long s. It was used in a "technology"-themed section of ''Rolling Stone''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoefler |first1=Jonathan |title=Two Fools |url=https://www.typography.com/blog/two-fools |website=Hoefler & Co. |access-date=18 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Technology, Fall '97 |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=774 |date=1997-11-27 |page=59}}</ref>

Maxitype designed the OCR-X typeface, based on the OCR-A typeface, with OpenType features, alien and technology-themed dingbats, and available in 6 weights (Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black).<ref>{{cite web|title=OCR-X typeface|url=https://maxitype.com/typeface/ocr-x/|publisher=Maxitype|accessdate=24 September 2023}}</ref>

==Use==
[[File:Verrechnungsscheck, WestLB, Landeshauptkasse Düsseldorf, 2004.jpg|right|thumb|OCR-A on a German [[Finance:Cheque|bank check]]. The ⑂, ⑀ and ⑁ characters are used to delimit particular fields in the machine-readable line (shown here partially redacted).]]
Although optical character recognition technology has advanced to the point where such simple fonts are no longer necessary,<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Data Processing Magazine |title=The History of OCR |volume=12 |year=1970 |page=46}}</ref> the OCR-A font has remained in use. Its usage remains widespread in the encoding of [[Finance:Cheque|check]]s around the world. Some [[Finance:Lockbox (accounts receivable)|lock box]] companies still insist that the account number and amount owed on a bill return form be printed in OCR-A.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc-com/pdf/corporateandinstitutional/Treasury%20Management/Healthcare/078_Patient_Pay_Lockbox_3-13.pdf |title=Description of a lockbox service, note "The bill contains an invoice and a statement with patient information contained in a scannable Optical Character Recognition (OCR) line. The OCR line is similar in appearance to that found on a credit card statement or telephone bill." |access-date=2015-07-30 |archive-date=2017-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301092812/https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc-com/pdf/corporateandinstitutional/Treasury%20Management/Healthcare/078_Patient_Pay_Lockbox_3-13.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Also, because of its unusual look, it is sometimes used in advertising and display graphics.

Notably, it is used for the subtitles in films and television series such as ''Blacklist'' and for the main titles in ''The Pretender''. Additionally, OCR-A is used{{how|date=December 2022}} for the films ''Crimson Tide'' and ''13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi''.

==Code points==
A font is a set of character shapes, or glyphs.  For a computer to use a font, each glyph must be assigned a [[Code point|code point]] in a character set.  When OCR-A was being standardized the usual character coding was the American Standard Code for Information Interchange or ASCII.  Not all of the glyphs of OCR-A fit into ASCII, and for five of the characters there were alternate glyphs, which might have suggested the need for a second font.  However, for convenience and efficiency all of the glyphs were expected to be accessible in a single font using ASCII coding, with the additional characters placed at coding points that would otherwise have been unused.

The modern descendant of ASCII is [[Unicode]], also known as [[ISO 10646]].  Unicode contains ASCII and has special provisions for OCR characters, so some implementations of OCR-A have looked to Unicode for
guidance on character code assignments.

=== Pre-Unicode standard representation ===
The ISO standard [[ISO 2033]]:1983, and the corresponding Japanese Industrial Standard JIS X 9010:1984 (originally JIS C 6229-1984), define character encodings for OCR-A, [[OCR-B]] and E-13B. For OCR-A, they define a modified 7-bit ASCII set (also known by its ISO-IR number ISO-IR-91) including only uppercase letters, digits, a subset of the punctuation and symbols, and some additional symbols.<ref name="ir91">{{cite iso-ir |number=91 |title=Japanese OCR-A Graphic Character Set |sponsor=ISO/TC97/SC2 |sponsor-link=ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2#History |date=1985-08-01}}</ref> Codes which are redefined relative to ASCII, as opposed to simply omitted, are listed below:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Character !! Image !! Location !! In ASCII !! Comments
|-
| £ || [[Image:OCR-A char Pound Sign.svg|12px|Pound Sign]] || 0x23 || # || Matches BS 4730, the United Kingdom variant of ISO 646.<ref name="ISO-IR-004">{{cite iso-ir |title=The set of graphic characters of the United Kingdom 7-bit data code |sponsor=BSI |sponsor-link=BSI Group |date=1975-12-01 |number=4}}</ref>
|-
| { || [[Image:OCR-A char Left Curly Bracket.svg|12px|Left Curly Bracket]] || 0x28 || ( || Character name is still "LEFT PARENTHESIS", despite showing a brace. Usual left brace ASCII code 0x7B is omitted.<ref name="ir91" />
|-
| } || [[Image:OCR-A char Right Curly Bracket.svg|12px|Right Curly Bracket]] || 0x29 || ) || Character name is still "RIGHT PARENTHESIS", despite showing a brace. Usual right brace ASCII code 0x7D is omitted.<ref name="ir91" />
|-
| ⑀ || [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Hook.svg|12px|OCR Hook]] || 0x3C || < ||
|-
| ⑁ || [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Chair.svg|12px|OCR Chair]] || 0x3E || > ||
|-
| ¥ || [[Image:OCR-A char Yen Sign.svg|12px|Yen Sign]] || 0x5C || \ || Matches JIS X 0201. Included in JIS X 9010, but omitted by ISO 2033.<ref name="ir91" />
|-
| ⑂ || [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Fork.svg|12px|OCR Fork]] || 0x5D || ] ||
|}

Additionally, the long vertical mark ([[Image:OCR-A char Long Vertical Mark.svg|12px|Long Vertical Mark]]) is encoded at 0x7C, corresponding to the ASCII vertical bar (|).<ref name="ir91" />

=== Dedicated OCR-A characters in Unicode ===
{{Main|Optical Character Recognition (Unicode block)}}

The following characters have been defined for control purposes and are now in the [[Optical Character Recognition (Unicode block)|"Optical Character Recognition" Unicode range 2440–245F]]:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Dedicated OCR-A code points based on ASCII and Unicode<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=4 January 2023 |title=Optical Character Recognition |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2440.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104125606/https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2440.pdf |archive-date=4 January 2023 |website=[[Organization:Unicode Consortium|Unicode Consortium]]}}</ref>
|-
! Name !! align="center" | Image 
!Text!! Unicode
|-
| OCR Hook || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Hook.svg|12px|OCR Hook]] 
|⑀|| U+2440
|-
| OCR Chair || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Chair.svg|12px|OCR Chair]] 
|⑁
| U+2441
|-
| OCR Fork || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char OCR Fork.svg|12px|OCR Fork]] 
|⑂|| U+2442
|-
| OCR Inverted fork || align="center" | '''{{large|⑃}}''' 
|⑃|| U+2443
|-
| OCR Belt buckle || align="center" | '''{{large|⑄}}''' 
|⑄|| U+2444
|-
| OCR Bow tie || align="center" | '''{{large|⑅}}''' 
|⑅|| U+2445
|}

===Space, digits, and unaccented letters===
[[Image:OCR-A char digits.svg|120px|thumb|right|OCR-A digits]]
[[Image:OCR-A char unaccented capital letters.svg|350px|thumb|right|OCR-A unaccented capital letters]]
[[Image:OCR-A char unaccented small letters.svg|350px|thumb|right|OCR-A unaccented small letters]]

All implementations of OCR-A use U+0020 for space,
U+0030 through U+0039 for the decimal digits,
U+0041 through U+005A for the unaccented upper case letters, and
U+0061 through U+007A for the unaccented lower case letters.

===Regular characters===
In addition to the digits and unaccented letters, many of the characters of OCR-A have obvious code points in ASCII.
Of those that do not, most, including all of OCR-A's accented letters, have obvious code points in Unicode.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Additional OCR-A code points based on ASCII and Unicode
|-
! Name !! align="center" | Glyph !! Unicode
|-
| Exclamation Mark || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Exclamation Mark.svg|12px|Exclamation Mark]] || U+0021
|-
| Quotation Mark || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Quotation Mark.svg|12px|Quotation Mark]] || U+0022
|-
| Number Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Number Sign.svg|12px|Number Sign]] || U+0023
|-
| Dollar Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Dollar Sign.svg|12px|Dollar Sign]] || U+0024
|-
| Percent Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Percent Sign.svg|12px|Percent Sign]] || U+0025
|-
| Ampersand || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Ampersand.svg|12px|Ampersand]] || U+0026
|-
| Apostrophe || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Apostrophe.svg|12px|Apostrophe]] || U+0027
|-
| Left Parenthesis || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Left Parenthesis.svg|12px|Left Parenthesis]] || U+0028
|-
| Right Parenthesis || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Right Parenthesis.svg|12px|Right Parenthesis]] || U+0029
|-
| Asterisk || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Asterisk.svg|12px|Asterisk]] || U+002A
|-
| Plus Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Plus Sign.svg|12px|Plus Sign]] || U+002B
|-
| Comma || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Comma.svg|12px|Comma]] || U+002C
|-
| Hyphen-Minus || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Hyphen-Minus.svg|12px|Hyphen-Minus]] || U+002D
|-
| Full Stop (Period) || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Full Stop.svg|12px|Full Stop (Period)]] || U+002E
|-
| Solidus (Slash) || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Solidus.svg|12px|Solidus (Slash)]] || U+002F
|-
| Colon || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Colon.svg|12px|Colon]] || U+003A
|-
| Semicolon || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Semicolon.svg|12px|Semicolon]] || U+003B
|-
| Less-Than Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Less-Than Sign.svg|12px|Less-Than Sign]] || U+003C
|-
| Equals Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Equals Sign.svg|12px|Equals Sign]] || U+003D
|-
| Greater-Than Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Greater-Than Sign.svg|12px|Greater-Than Sign]] || U+003E
|-
| Question Mark || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Question Mark.svg|12px|Question Mark]] || U+003F
|-
| Commercial At || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Commercial At.svg|12px|Commercial At]] || U+0040
|-
| Left Square Bracket || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Left Square Bracket.svg|12px|Left Square Bracket]] || U+005B
|-
| Reverse Solidus (Backslash) || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Reverse Solidus.svg|12px|Reverse Solidus]] || U+005C
|-
| Right Square Bracket || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Right Square Bracket.svg|12px|Right Square Bracket]] || U+005D
|-
| Circumflex Accent || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Circumflex Accent.svg|12px|Circumflex Accent]] || U+005E
|-
| Left Curly Bracket || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Left Curly Bracket.svg|12px|Left Curly Bracket]] || U+007B
|-
| Right Curly Bracket || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Right Curly Bracket.svg|12px|Right Curly Bracket]] || U+007D
|-
| Pound Sign (Sterling) || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Pound Sign.svg|12px|Pound Sign]] || U+00A3
|-
| Yen Sign || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Yen Sign.svg|12px|Yen Sign]] || U+00A5
|-
| Latin Capital Letter A with Dieresis || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char A with Dieresis.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter A with Dieresis]] || U+00C4
|-
| Latin Capital Letter A with Ring Above || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char A with Ring Above.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter A with Ring Above]] || U+00C5
|-
| Latin Capital Letter AE || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char AE.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter AE]] || U+00C6
|-
| Latin Capital Letter N with Tilde || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char N with Tilde.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter N with Tilde]] || U+00D1
|-
| Latin Capital Letter O with Dieresis || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char o with Dieresis.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter O with Dieresis]] || U+00D6
|-
| Latin Capital Letter O with Stroke || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char O with Stroke.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter O with Stroke]] || U+00D8
|-
| Latin Capital Letter U with Dieresis || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char u with Dieresis.svg|12px|Latin Capital Letter U with Dieresis]] || U+00DC
|}

===Remaining characters===
Linotype<ref>[https://www.linotype.com/1085573/ocr-a-regular-product.html Linotype's OCR-A font: choose Character Map to see the characters and their coding]</ref> coded the remaining characters of OCR-A as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Additional OCR-A Characters
|-
! Name !! align="center" | Glyph !! Unicode || Unicode Name
|-
| Long Vertical Mark || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Long Vertical Mark.svg|12px|Long Vertical Mark]] || U+007C || Vertical Line
|}

===Additional characters===
The fonts that descend from the work of Tor Lillqvist and Richard B. Wales define four characters not in OCR-A to fill out the ASCII character set.  These shapes use the same style as the OCR-A character shapes.  They are:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Additional ASCII Characters
|-
! Name !! align="center" | Glyph !! Unicode
|-
| Low Line || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Low Line.svg|12px|Low Line]] || U+005F
|-
| Grave Accent || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Grave Accent.svg|12px|Grave Accent]] || U+0060
|-
| Vertical Line || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Vertical Line.svg|12px|Vertical Line]] || U+007C
|-
| Tilde || align="center" | [[Image:OCR-A char Tilde.svg|12px|Tilde]] || U+007E
|}

Linotype also defines additional characters.<ref>[https://www.linotype.com/900974/ocr-a-extended-product.html Linotype's OCR-A Extended font: choose Character Map then Show all]</ref>



===Exceptions===
Some implementations do not use the above code point assignments for some characters.

====PrecisionID====
The PrecisionID implementation of OCR-A has the following non-standard code points:<ref>[http://www.precisionid.com/tutorials/OCR_Font_User_Manual.pdf PrecisionID User Guide for the PrecisionID implementation of the OCR-A font]</ref>
* OCR Hook at U+007E
* OCR Chair at U+00C1
* OCR Fork at U+00C2
* Euro Sign at U+0080

====Barcodesoft====
The Barcodesoft implementation of OCR-A has the following non-standard code points:<ref>[http://www.barcode-soft.com/ocr_font.aspx Information page for the Barcode implementation of the OCR-A font]</ref><ref>[http://www.ozgrid.com/barcodes/ocr-font.htm Another source of information about the Barcode fonts]</ref>
* OCR Hook at U+0060
* OCR Chair at U+007E
* OCR Fork at U+005F
* Long Vertical Mark at U+007C (agrees with Linotype)
* Character Erase at U+0008

====Morovia====
The Morovia implementation of OCR-A has the following non-standard code points:<ref>[http://morovia.com/font/ocr.asp Information page for the Morovia implementation of the OCR-A font]</ref>
* OCR Hook at U+007E (agrees with PrecisionID)
* OCR Chair at U+00F0
* OCR Fork at U+005F (agrees with Barcodesoft)
* Long Vertical Mark at U+007C (agrees with Linotype)

====IDAutomation====
The IDAutomation implementation of OCR-A has the following non-standard code points:<ref>[http://www.idautomation.com/ocr-a-and-ocr-b-fonts/#product-information Information page for the IDAutomation implementation of the OCR-A and OCR-B fonts]</ref>
* OCR Hook at U+007E (agrees with PrecisionID)
* OCR Chair at U+00C1 (agrees with PrecisionID)
* OCR Fork at U+00C2 (agrees with PrecisionID)
* OCR Belt Buckle at U+00C3

==MS-DOS OCR-A encoding==
The MS-DOS OCR-A encoding is '''code page 876'''.
{|{{chset-table-header1|MS-DOS OCR-A<ref>{{cite web|title=Code Page 876|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/systems_i_software_globalization_pdf_cp00876z.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121103240/http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/systems_i_software_globalization_pdf_cp00876z.pdf|archive-date=2013-01-21}}</ref>}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1||<small>{{ref|a|[a]}}</small>|}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-ctrl1|Alt+32 U+0020 SPACE|&nbsp;[[Whitespace character|SP]]&nbsp;}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+33 U+0021 EXCLAMATION MARK|!}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+34 U+0022 QUOTATION MARK|"}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+35 U+0023 NUMBER SIGN|#}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+36 U+0024 DOLLAR SIGN|$}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+37 U+0025 PERCENT SIGN|%}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+38 U+0026 AMPERSAND|&}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+39 U+0027 APOSTROPHE|'}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+40 U+0028 LEFT PARENTHESIS|(}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+41 U+0029 RIGHT PARENTHESIS|)}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+42 U+002A ASTERISK|*}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+43 U+002B PLUS SIGN|+}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+44 U+002C COMMA|,}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+45 U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS|-}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+46 U+002E FULL STOP|.}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+47 U+002F SOLIDUS|/}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+48 U+0030 DIGIT ZERO|0}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+49 U+0031 DIGIT ONE|1}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+50 U+0032 DIGIT TWO|2}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+51 U+0033 DIGIT THREE|3}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+52 U+0034 DIGIT FOUR|4}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+53 U+0035 DIGIT FIVE|5}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+54 U+0036 DIGIT SIX|6}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+55 U+0037 DIGIT SEVEN|7}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+56 U+0038 DIGIT EIGHT|8}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+57 U+0039 DIGIT NINE|9}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+58 U+003A COLON|:}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+59 U+003B SEMICOLON|;}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+60 U+003C LESS-THAN SIGN|[[Less-than sign|<]]}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+61 U+003D EQUALS SIGN|[[=|=]]}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+62 U+003E GREATER-THAN SIGN|[[Greater-than sign|>]]}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+63 U+003F QUESTION MARK|?}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+64 U+0040 COMMERCIAL AT|@}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+65 U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A|A}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+66 U+0042 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B|B}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+67 U+0043 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C|C}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+68 U+0044 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D|D}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+69 U+0045 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E|E}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+70 U+0046 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F|F}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+71 U+0047 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G|G}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+72 U+0048 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H|H}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+73 U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I|I}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+74 U+004A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J|J}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+75 U+004B LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K|K}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+76 U+004C LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L|L}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+77 U+004D LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M|M}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+78 U+004E LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N|N}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+79 U+004F LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O|O}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+80 U+0050 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P|P}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+81 U+0051 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q|Q}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+82 U+0052 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R|R}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+83 U+0053 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S|S}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+84 U+0054 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T|T}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+85 U+0055 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U|U}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+86 U+0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V|V}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+87 U+0057 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W|W}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+88 U+0058 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X|X}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+89 U+0059 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y|Y}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+90 U+005A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z|Z}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+91 U+005B LEFT SQUARE BRACKET|&#91;}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+92 U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS|\}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+93 U+005D RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET|&#93;}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+94 U+005E CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT|^}}
|{{chset-cell1|u=2442|Alt+95 U+2442 OCR FORK|⑂}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|u=2441|Alt+96 U+2441 OCR CHAIR|⑁}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+97 U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A|a}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+98 U+0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B|b}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+99 U+0063 LATIN SMALL LETTER C|c}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+100 U+0064 LATIN SMALL LETTER D|d}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+101 U+0065 LATIN SMALL LETTER E|e}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+102 U+0066 LATIN SMALL LETTER F|f}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+103 U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G|g}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+104 U+0068 LATIN SMALL LETTER H|h}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+105 U+0069 LATIN SMALL LETTER I|i}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+106 U+006A LATIN SMALL LETTER J|j}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+107 U+006B LATIN SMALL LETTER K|k}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+108 U+006C LATIN SMALL LETTER L|l}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+109 U+006D LATIN SMALL LETTER M|m}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+110 U+006E LATIN SMALL LETTER N|n}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+111 U+006F LATIN SMALL LETTER O|o}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+112 U+0070 LATIN SMALL LETTER P|p}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+113 U+0071 LATIN SMALL LETTER Q|q}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+114 U+0072 LATIN SMALL LETTER R|r}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+115 U+0073 LATIN SMALL LETTER S|s}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+116 U+0074 LATIN SMALL LETTER T|t}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+117 U+0075 LATIN SMALL LETTER U|u}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+118 U+0076 LATIN SMALL LETTER V|v}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+119 U+0077 LATIN SMALL LETTER W|w}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+120 U+0078 LATIN SMALL LETTER X|x}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+121 U+0079 LATIN SMALL LETTER Y|y}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+122 U+007A LATIN SMALL LETTER Z|z}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+123 U+007B LEFT CURLY BRACKET|{}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+124 U+007C VERTICAL LINE|[[Vertical bar|{{pipe}}]]}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+125 U+007D RIGHT CURLY BRACKET|}}}
|{{chset-cell1|u=2440|Alt+126 U+2440 OCR HOOK|⑀}}
|{{chset-cell1||<small>{{ref|b|[b]}}</small>}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+142 U+00C4 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS|Ä}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+143 U+00C5 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE|Å}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+146 U+00C6 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE|Æ}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+153 U+00D6 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS|Ö}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+154 U+00DC LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS|Ü}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+156 U+00A3 POUND SIGN|£}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+157 U+00A5 YEN SIGN|¥}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+165 U+00D1 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE|Ñ}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|Alt+167 U+00D8 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE|Ø}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|{{chset-cell1|||style=background:#DDD}}
|-
|}

Characters not in Unicode:<ref>{{cite book|url=https://infostore.saiglobal.com/preview/iso/iso_12345_06-01/t005567e.pdf#page=4|title=Alphanumeric character sets for optical recognition - Part I: Character set OCR-A - Shapes and dimensions of the printed image (preview)|pages=2–3}}</ref>
*{{note|a|a}} Group erase (0x18)
*{{note|b|b}} Character erase (0x7F)

==Sellers of font standards==
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Y2U4OG Hardcopy of ISO 1073-1:1976, distributed through ANSI, from Amazon.com]
* [http://www.techstreet.com/cgi-bin/detail?product_id=56168 ISO 1073-1 is also available from Techstreet, who distributes standards for ANSI and ISO]

==See also==
* [[Magnetic ink character recognition]]
* [[Optical character recognition]]
* Westminster (typeface), a typeface designed to resemble the visual appearance of MICR.
* [[OCR-B]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://myfonts.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/typographic-abbreviations-series-1-ocr/ Introductory article about OCR fonts]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927234916/http://www.nssn.org/search/DetailResults.aspx?docid=337976&selnode= Link standard ANSI INCITS 17-1981 (R2002)]
* [http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC2/WG3/docs/n504.pdf Background on ISO work involving OCR-A]
* [https://www.unicode.org/charts/ Unicode code charts]
* [http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/gcgid/ocrsym.html IBM GCGID mapping]

{{Monospaced fonts}}
{{Free and open-source typography}}
{{Typography terms}}
{{ISO standards}}

[[Category:Monospaced typefaces]]
[[Category:ISO standards]]
[[Category:Open-source typefaces]]
[[Category:Optical character recognition]]

{{Sourceattribution|OCR-A}}