Abstract: A pattern recognition apparatus for identifying characters for example comprises a scanner and data extraction circuit which obtains a rectangular sized M.times.N bit pattern matrix B(i,j) representing the presence and configuration of an unknown scanned pattern in subregions (i,j) of a frame which substantially encloses the scanned pattern, wherein each bit in the pattern has a pattern present value when the scanned pattern falls at least partially within its associated subregion and a pattern absent value when the scanned pattern does not fall within its associated subregion. A processor compares the bit pattern matrix with a plurality of previously obtained bit pattern matrices B.sub.S.sup.K (i,j) for a respective plurality of known reference patterns K, and outputs for each reference pattern K a comparison quantity value D.sup.K whose amplitude represents the degree of correspondence between the bit pattern matrix B(i,j) from scanning the unknown pattern and the bit pattern matrices B.sub.S.sup.