The symbol comprises the following elements:

• Leading quiet zone

• Start character (wide bar, narrow space, wide bar)

• Data characters

• Optional check digit

• Stop character (narrow bar, wide space, wide bar)

• Trailing quiet zone

This symbology supports all numeric digits (0-9).

NEC 2 of 5 contains an optional check digit that is usually based on the modulo 10 (mod 10) algorithm.

The minimum X dimension is 0.191 mm.

The recommended minimum symbol height for manual scanning is 5.0 mm or 15 percent of the symbol width (excluding quiet zones), whichever is greater. The quiet zones must be at least 10 modules wide or 2.54 mm, whichever is greater.