121
Appendix L:
Code 93 Specifications
Code 93 is variable length, continuous, bi-directional, compact code. Code 93 is an alphanumeric bar code which consists of
43 data
characters
(
0-9
,
A-Z
,
$/+%.-
and
Space
),
4 control characters
, and a
unique start/stop character
. The entire set of 128 ASCII
characters is represented in Code 93 using combinations of
control characters
and
data characters
.
The control characters are
,
,
, and
. Full ASCII 93 is created by pairing these control characters with normal data
characters. It is almost identical to the pairings for Code 39; Code 39 uses $M to produce a Carriage Return (ASCII 13) character --
Code 93 uses
M to produce the Carriage Return.
Code 93's two built-in check digits greatly minimize the possibility of reader substitution errors. These check digits are never
transmitted by the bar code reader. Code 93's Start and Stop characters are also never transmitted.
The Code 39 features of
Accumulate Mode
,
Caps Lock ON
and
Caps lock OFF
also apply to Code 128.
If you have not decided which bar code type to use for your application and are considering using Code 93, while we agree that Code
93 is an excellent code, we believe that Code 128 is generally preferable because less space is required. Two space disadvantages of
Code 93 are:
Code 93
does not
have the numeric compression capability that 128 does, (compression results in 128‟s significantly less space for
equivalent codes), and
Code 93 requires pairings to make all Full ASCII characters while 128 does not, (more space is required for lower case and upper case
than Code 128).
