UPC-E is a variation of the UPC-A symbol that is used for number system 0. The UPC-E code is a numeric-only code which is able to display digits from 0 to 9. UPC-E has 8 digits, where the last digit is a checksum digit automatically added by the barcode engine. The first digit is always "0" and it is also automatically added by Barcode Xpress for Java.

The UPC-E code is a compressed barcode which is intended for use on small items. Compression works by squeezing extra zeros out of the barcode and then automatically re-inserting them at the scanner. Only barcodes containing zeros are candidates for the UPC-E symbol.

When reading UPC-E, results are returned as uncompressed UPC values.

The barcode engine generates an error if you have characters in your barcode value that are not allowed. You can have 6, 10, 11 or 12 digits in the UPC-E value. If the barcode value has more than 6 digits, the barcode engine automatically compresses the value. There are four rules that determine what UPC codes can be created using the compressed UPC-E format:

• If the last 3 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 000, 100, or 200, the valid product code numbers are 00000-00999 (1,000 numbers).
• If the last 3 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, or 900, the valid product code numbers are 00000-00099 (100 numbers).
• If the last 2 digits of the manufacturer’s number are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90, the valid product code numbers are 00000-00009 (10 numbers).
• If the manufacturer’s number does not end in zero, the valid product code numbers are 00005-00009 (5 numbers).

An example: