Embodiments of the application provide a method for rate matching in a wireless communication network. A device obtains K information bits and a target code length M of a polar code, determines, according to a minimum value of a set of values, a mother code length N1, polar encodes the K information bits to obtain an encoded sequence of N1 bits, obtains a target sequence of M bits from the N1 bit encoded sequence, and outputs the M-bit target sequence. When the mother code length N1 is larger than the target code length M, (N1−M) bits of the encoded sequence are punctured or shortened from the N1 bit encoded sequence.