This paper presents a real-time constraint-free handprinted character recognition system based on a structural approach. After the preprocessing operation, a chain code is extracted to represent the character. The classification is based on the use of a processor dedicated to string comparison. The average computation time to recognize a character is about 0.07 seconds. During the learning step, the user can define any set of characters or symbols to be recognized by the system. Thus there are no constraints on the handprinting. The experimental tests show a high degree of accuracy (96%) for writer-dependent applications. Comparisons with other system and methods are discussed. We also present a comparison between the processor used in this system and the Wagner and Fischer algorithm. Finally, we describe some applications of the system.