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Check digit

published · September 10, 2026

A check digit is a digit computed from the rest of an identifier so that a mistyped one usually fails arithmetic before anybody looks it up.

A check digit is a digit computed from the rest of an identifier so that a mistyped one usually fails arithmetic before anybody looks it up. It catches typos and transpositions; it proves nothing about whether the identifier was ever issued.

Where Spaw computes one

Two places, and both say the same thing about what it means.

checksum_valid on a business answer is the ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 check over a LEI. It is reported separately from the register lookup precisely so the two are never confused: a well-formed LEI that no register carries is a well-formed LEI that no register carries.

The card number checker computes the Luhn digit over a card number entirely in the visitor's browser — no request, no endpoint, no log line, and the number never appears in a URL.

Why the distinction is worth a page

"Valid" is the most overloaded word in identifier checking. A check digit answers one narrow question: were these characters plausibly copied correctly. Whether the thing exists, whether it is current, and whether it belongs to who you were told, are three further questions with three further answers — and this product keeps them in separate fields rather than collapsing them into one boolean.

Related

markdown version: /glossary/check-digit.md

Verify addresses the same way

The Spaw API runs every check described here on each lookup, with an SMTP handshake that never sends mail. 10 free lookups a month, no card required.

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More glossary

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    An area-code overlay is a new area code added over the same area as an existing one, instead of splitting it, so neighbours can hold different codes and local calls need ten digits.

  • Calling window

    A calling window is the span of local hours a sender contacts people in. Spaw answers in_call_window from the number's time zones: clock arithmetic, not compliance advice.

  • Fictional number

    A fictional number sits in a range kept out of service for films, TV and other fiction: 555-0100 to 555-0199 in North America, and ranges Ofcom, ARCEP, ACMA and ComReg reserve elsewhere.

  • International (exit) prefix

    An international prefix is what is dialled to leave a country before the calling code: 00 in most of the world, 011 in North America. Spaw reads it and suggests a fix in did_you_mean.

  • International network number

    An international network number sits under a calling code the ITU gives a global service rather than a country, such as +870, +881, +882 or +883, so its country is null.

  • Live carrier check (HLR lookup)

    A live carrier check asks the mobile networks, at the moment of the lookup, whether a number is in service, which network serves it and whether it is roaming. On Spaw it is not enabled.

  • Number pooling (thousands-blocks)

    Number pooling splits a North American central office code into ten blocks of a thousand numbers, each assigned to a carrier separately, so one code can hold several carriers' numbers.

  • Number portability

    Number portability lets a subscriber keep a phone number when changing carrier. The number's block stays listed under the carrier it was issued to, so block data names the original holder.