Python ReportLab – Generate EAN-13 barcode

In this post we will be creating a Python script that will generate an EAN-13 barcode using the ReportLab library. ReportLab is a powerful Python library that lets you create professional-looking PDF documents. It also provides support for generating various types of barcodes. With these barcode types, you can easily create custom barcodes to make your documents stand out and automate your business processes.

Retail and other industries commonly use the EAN-13 barcode for product identification and tracking. EAN-13 barcodes are 13 digits long, this allows EAN-13 barcodes to encode more information than other types of barcodes. (usually 12 digits long)

See the sample of Python code below where we use the ReportLab library to generate an EAN-13 barcode. We start by creating a new PDF document called ‘barcode.pdf’ and assign it to the variable ‘myCanvas’. We then create a new EAN-13 barcode drawing object with the value ‘8523659632598’ and assign it to the variable ‘newBarcode’. Our ‘newBarcode’ object is then drawn onto the PDF canvas at the position (50, 50) on the page. The PDF document is then saved and the canvas is closed.

from reportlab.graphics import barcode
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

myCanvas = canvas.Canvas('barcode.pdf')

newBarcode = barcode.createBarcodeDrawing('EAN13', value='8523659632598')

newBarcode.drawOn(myCanvas, 50, 50)

myCanvas.save()

An image of the barcode in our PDF can be seen below.

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