Abstract: An optical character reader is provided, which comprises an input for allowing a plurality of commends to be input; a reading device for reading recorded data; a memory having a first region for storing read date, a second region for storing character data corresponding to the read data, and a third region for storing the character dates an output device for supplying at least one of the character data stored in the second region of the memory and the character data stored in the third region of the memory to the information processing device; and a data processor, when a memory command is input from the input, which stores the read data in the first region of the memory, converts the read data which is stored in the first region of the memory into character data, and stores the character data in the second region of the memory, and when a read command is input from the input, which transfers the character data stored in the second region of the memory to the third region.