bar code

noun

1. Also called: Universal Product Code.  UPC. commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reordering

bar code

1. A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.

Example Sentences

For ticket inspections and to pass through barriers, the app will generate a bar code to scan.

From BBC

Election Assistance Commission to shift its guidance on voting machines banning the use of certain bar codes and quick-response codes, has been allowed to proceed.

From Los Angeles Times

No more scrolling through your phone to find that bar code, or scrambling through your glove compartment to find that parking pass.

From Los Angeles Times

Customers use the new postboxes by scanning a bar code on the parcel and dropping it into a drawer - all powered by small solar panels on the top of the box.

From BBC

In Shasta and Nevada counties, flecks of ink marring the bar codes printed on some ballots prevented voting machines made by Hart InterCivic from correctly reading those ballots.

From Los Angeles Times