Abstract: A pattern recognition device tracks the angular movements made by a pointing device such as a mouse in generating a pattern of lines. A pattern code is generated if the angular movements match those of a pattern code in a lookup table. The pattern matching for the shape is done without regard to size, is insensitive to expected variations in hand-drawn strokes, requires minimal computer processing and data storage, and can distinguish between identical patterns that differ only in the order in which their constituent line segments were drawn.