In this study, we propose a new sub-word segmentation and recognition scheme, which is independent of font size and font type. D ifferent ways of recognition are attempted namely Neural N et, template matching and principal component analysis. Results show that the real problem in Arabic character recognition remains the challenging separation of sub-words into characters. The system is realized in a modularized way. The combination of the different modules forms the basis of a complete Arabic OCR system. A successful preprocessing stage is reported. Unlike Latin based languages, recognition of printed Arabic characters remains an open field of research.