---
name: "barcode"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "barcode"
version: "0.99-9"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/barcode"
---

# barcode(1)

a standalone program to convert text strings to printed bars

## NAME

barcode - a standalone program to convert text strings to printed bars

## SYNOPSIS

**barcode** \[\[-b - \| string\] \| \[-i - \| input\_file\]\] \[-e encoding\] \[-o - \| outfile\] \[ *other-flags* \]

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **barcode** command as provided by **barcode** package.

GNU **barcode** is a standalone program that converts text strings to printed bars.  It is able to read user supplied strings from the command line or a data file (standard input by default) and encode all of them.

## OPTIONS

**barcode** accepts the following options:

- \--help or -h

  Print a usage summary and exit.

- \-i \<arg\>

  Specify input file (strings to encode), default is stdin

- \-o \<arg\>

  Specify output file, default is stdout

- \-b \<arg\>

  Specify string to encode (use input file if missing)

- \-e \<arg\>

  Specify encoding type (default is best fit for first string)

- \-u \<arg\>

  Specify unit to be used ("mm", "in", ...). This option is used to decode -g, -t and -p.

- \-g \<arg\>

  Specify geometry on the page: \[\<wid\>x\<hei\>\]\[+\<margin\>+\<margin\>\]

- \-t \<arg\>

  Specify table geometry: \<cols\>x\<lines\>\[+\<margin\>+\<margin\>\]

- \-m \<arg\>

  Specify internal margin for each item in a table: \<xm\>\[,\<ym\>\]

- \-n

  Be "numeric": avoid printing text along with the bars

- \-c

  no Checksum character, if the chosen encoding allows it

- \-E

  Print one code as eps file (default: multi-page ps)

- \-S

  Print one code as svg file (default: multi-page ps)

- \-P

  Create PCL output instead of postscript

- \-p \<arg\>

  Specify page size. Please refer to texinfo doc for more information.

- \-s

  Use streaming mode. Please refer to texinfo doc for more information.

## ENCODING TYPES

The program encodes text strings passed either on the command line (with -b) or retrieved from standard input.  The text representation is interpreted according to certain rules. Please refer to texinfo doc as described below for detail introduction.

To get a list of supported encoding type names, please call the program with "-h" option.

## REPORTING BUGS

Please mail bug reports and suggestions to  ⟨bug-barcode@\\:gnu.org⟩ or submit them onto its Bug Tracker on https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/barcode .

Please report Debian-specific bugs using Debian Bug Tracking System.

## SEE ALSO

Full documentation of GNU barcode is available as a texinfo document provided by the authors. Please call *info barcode* to read it after having GNU Info documentation reader installed.

Project homepage: https://www.gnu.org/software/barcode/

## AUTHOR

Alessandro Rubini ⟨rubini@\\:gnu.org⟩(maintainer)\
 Leonid A. Broukhis ⟨leob@\\:mailcom.com⟩(several encodings)\
 Andrea Scopece ⟨a.scopece@\\:tin.it⟩(PCL output)

This manual page is written by Boyuan Yang ⟨byang@\\:debian.org⟩ for the Debian Project (but may be used by others).