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BINTRANS(1)		     General Commands Manual		     BINTRANS(1)

NAME
     bintrans,	uuencode, uudecode, b64encode, b64decode, base64 -- encode / de-
     code a binary file

SYNOPSIS
     bintrans [algorithm] [...]
     uuencode [-m] [-r] [-o output_file] [file] name
     uudecode [-cimprs] [file ...]
     uudecode [-i] -o output_file
     b64encode [-r] [-w column] [-o output_file] [file] name
     b64decode [-cimprs] [file ...]
     b64decode [-i] -o output_file [file]
     base64 [-d] [-w column] [file]

DESCRIPTION
     The uuencode and uudecode utilities are used to transmit binary files  over
     transmission mediums that do not support other than simple ASCII data.  The
     b64encode	utility  is synonymous with uuencode with the -m flag specified.
     The b64decode utility is synonymous with uudecode with the -m  flag  speci-
     fied.

     The  base64  utility  acts as a base64 decoder when passed the --decode (or
     -d) flag and as a base64 encoder otherwise.  As a decoder it  only  accepts
     raw  base64  input and as an encoder it does not produce the framing lines.
     base64 reads standard input or file if it is provided and writes  to  stan-
     dard  output.   Options --wrap (or -w) and --ignore-garbage (or -i) are ac-
     cepted for compatibility with GNU base64, but the latter  is  unimplemented
     and silently ignored.

     The  uuencode  utility  reads  file  (or by default the standard input) and
     writes an encoded version to the standard output, or output_file if one has
     been specified.  The encoding uses only printing ASCII characters	and  in-
     cludes the mode of the file and the operand name for use by uudecode.

     The  uudecode  utility transforms uuencoded files (or by default, the stan-
     dard input) into the original form.  The resulting  file  is  named  either
     name or (depending on options passed to uudecode) output_file and will have
     the  mode	of the original file except that setuid and execute bits are not
     retained.	The uudecode utility ignores any leading and trailing lines.

     The following options are available for uuencode:

     -m      Use the Base64 method of  encoding,  rather  than	the  traditional
	     uuencode algorithm.

     -r      Produce  raw  output  by  excluding  the  initial and final framing
	     lines.

     -o output_file
	     Output to output_file instead of standard output.

     The following options are available for uudecode:

     -c      Decode more than one uuencoded file from file if possible.

     -i      Do not overwrite files.

     -m      When used with the -r flag, decode Base64 input instead  of  tradi-
	     tional uuencode input.  Without -r it has no effect.

     -o output_file
	     Output  to output_file instead of any pathname contained in the in-
	     put data.

     -p      Decode file and write output to standard output.

     -r      Decode raw (or broken) input, which is missing the initial and pos-
	     sibly the final framing lines.  The input is assumed to be  in  the
	     traditional  uuencode  encoding,  but if the -m flag is used, or if
	     the utility is invoked as b64decode, then the input is  assumed  to
	     be in Base64 format.

     -s      Do not strip output pathname to base filename.  By default uudecode
	     deletes any prefix ending with the last slash '/' for security rea-
	     sons.

     Additionally, b64encode accepts the following option:

     -w column
	     Wrap encoded output after column.

     bintrans  is  a  generic utility that can run any of the aforementioned en-
     coders and decoders.  It can also run algorithms  that  are  not  available
     through a dedicated program:

     qp is a quoted-printable converter and accepts the following options:

     -d      Decode.

     -o output_file
	     Output to output_file instead of standard output.

     -r      Encode/Decode in RFC2047 specific variant.

EXAMPLES
     The  following  example packages up a source tree, compresses it, uuencodes
     it and mails it to a user on another system.  When uudecode is run  on  the
     target  system,  the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be created which may then
     be uncompressed and extracted into the original tree.

	   tar cf - src_tree | compress |
	   uuencode src_tree.tar.Z | mail user@example.com

     The following example unpacks all uuencoded files from  your  mailbox  into
     your current working directory.

	   uudecode -c < $MAIL

     The following example extracts a compressed tar archive from your mailbox

	   uudecode -o /dev/stdout < $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -

SEE ALSO
     basename(1),  compress(1),  mail(1), uucp(1)(ports/net/freebsd-uucp), uuen-
     code(5)

HISTORY
     The uudecode and uuencode utilities appeared in 4.0BSD.

BUGS
     Files encoded using the traditional algorithm are expanded by 35% (3  bytes
     become 4 plus control information).

FreeBSD ports 15.1		 January 8, 2025		     BINTRANS(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=uuencode&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+15.1-RELEASE+and+Ports>

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