GLN Validator
Free GLN validator that checks GS1 Global Location Number length and check digit in your browser. No login, no upload, instant pass/fail.
This GLN validator checks whether a Global Location Number (GLN) is structurally valid — correct length and a correct GS1 check digit — so you can clean up supplier, ship-to, and warehouse records before they flow into your PIM, ERP, or trading-partner exchanges. Paste one GLN or a whole column; everything runs in your browser.
GLN Validator
The interactive version of this tool is coming soon. It will run entirely in your browser — no login, no upload limits.
Planned tool: gln validator
Need this now? Talk to ClaroWhat it checks
For every value you paste or upload, the GLN validator reports:
- Length — a GLN must be exactly 13 digits. Values that are too short (often from a dropped leading zero in a spreadsheet) or too long are flagged.
- Character set — only digits 0–9 are permitted. Spaces, hyphens, and stray letters from copy-paste are surfaced as errors.
- Check digit — recomputes the GS1 mod-10 check digit from the first 12 digits and compares it to the 13th. A mismatch means the number was mistyped or truncated.
- Structure — separates the GS1 Company Prefix and location reference from the trailing check digit so you can sanity-check the issuing party.
- Batch results — a per-row pass/fail breakdown plus a summary count, so a 50,000-row vendor master can be triaged in seconds.
How the GLN validator works
A GLN is built from a GS1 Company Prefix assigned to the organization, a location reference the organization assigns, and a single check digit. The check digit uses the standard GS1 mod-10 (Luhn-style) algorithm: starting from the rightmost data digit, alternating positions are weighted by 3 and 1, the weighted values are summed, and the check digit is the amount needed to round that sum up to the next multiple of 10.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Strip whitespace and confirm exactly 13 numeric characters |
| 2 | Take the first 12 digits as the data portion |
| 3 | Apply alternating weights of 3 and 1 from right to left and sum |
| 4 | Compute (10 − (sum mod 10)) mod 10 |
| 5 | Compare the result to the 13th digit and return pass or fail |
Because the math is fully deterministic, a structurally valid GLN is necessary but not sufficient — it proves the number was entered correctly, not that the location exists. That distinction matters across every category: an MRO distributor reconciling branch ship-to codes, a CPG supplier publishing party data to a data pool, a furniture brand mapping showroom locations, or an industrial distributor matching purchase-order endpoints all need clean GLNs before downstream systems will accept them.
All processing happens client-side. Nothing you paste or upload leaves your machine — there is no server upload, no login, and no file-size limit. That makes the tool safe for sensitive vendor and location masters. When you need GLNs verified against issuing-party data, deduplicated against existing records, and written back with full provenance at scale, that is the job of a canonical data layer like Claro’s enrichment engine.
Related resources
Glossary
What Is a GLN?
How Global Location Numbers are structured and where they are used.
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FAQ
How many digits is a valid GLN?
A GLN is always exactly 13 digits: a GS1 Company Prefix, a location reference, and one check digit. If your value has 12 digits, a leading zero was likely stripped by a spreadsheet that treated it as a number — reformat the column as text and re-check.
Is a GLN the same as a GTIN?
No. A GLN identifies a legal entity or a physical location, while a GTIN identifies a product. They share the same 13-digit length and check-digit formula, which is exactly why they get mixed up. Validating structure catches typos but will not tell you whether a 13-digit number is being used in the right field — that requires checking against your master data.
How is the GLN check digit calculated?
Take the first 12 digits. Working right to left, multiply alternating digits by 3 and 1, add the products together, then subtract that sum’s last digit from 10 (a result of 10 becomes 0). That value is the 13th digit. This GLN validator runs the same calculation and compares it to the digit you provided.
Does a valid check digit mean the location is real?
No. A passing check digit only proves the number is internally consistent and was typed correctly. It does not confirm that the GLN is registered, active, or assigned to the party you expect. Confirming that requires reconciling against an authoritative registry or your own verified records.
Is it safe to validate my supplier location data here?
Yes. The GLN validator runs entirely in your browser. Your pasted text or uploaded file is never sent to a server, there is no login, and there is no size limit, so it is safe to run against sensitive vendor and location masters.