An optical character reading system in which a sheet upon which characters or symbols are printed is illuminated and the characters scanned with a two-dimensional photoelectric sensor. Output signals from the sensors are processed to read the characters through right and left frame detecting circuits. The right and left frame detecting circuits detect white/black patterns of frames formed on the sensor when the left and right sides of the characters extend beyond the ends of the ranges of the sensor. A circuit combines the white/black patterns detected by the right and left frame detecting circuits to provide a recognition of the characters being scanned.