1. System for character presence detection locating characters within a line of characters represented by data bits in a binary stream which is divided into scans, at least some of said data bits corresponding to character information representing said characters, comprising: a plurality of scan detectors receiving said binary stream and signalling when the data bits in one scan contain character information conforming to certain criteria, each scan detector having a different criterion; a pluraity of segment generators, each segment generator in electrical communication with one of said scan detectors for storing into a memory as a series the number of consecutive scans meeting each criteria as a character segment (C) and the number of scans between said character segments as spaces (S) in said series; an averaging means for selecting one series of said character segments stored within said memory as determined by the average number of data bits containing character information per scan for said line; arithmetic means connected to said averaging means and to said memory for deriving a recycle number based on said average number (BAV) of data bits containing character information per scan, the average scans (ACW) per character segment, and the standard deviation (SD) of the number of scans in said character segments; and combination means for receiving said recycle number combining adjacent character segments (CC) of the selected series and the spaces (CS) there between until the addition of another character segment exceeds said recycle number to form a series of combined character segments, said arithmetic means deriving other recycle numbers for use by said combination means utilizing said combined character segments until the recycle number derived is approximately equal to the prior recycled number derived by said arithmetic means.