NAME
uuencode
,
uudecode
, b64encode
,
b64decode
—
encode/decode a binary file
SYNOPSIS
uuencode |
[-m ] [-o
output_file] [file]
name |
uudecode |
[-cimprs ] [file ...] |
uudecode |
[-i ] -o
output_file |
b64encode |
[-o output_file]
[file] name |
b64decode |
[-cimprs ] [file ...] |
b64decode |
[-i ] -o
output_file [file] |
DESCRIPTION
Theuuencode
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
specified.
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 includes the mode of the file and the operand name
for use by uudecode
.
The uudecode
utility
transforms
uuencoded files
(or by default, the standard 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. -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 traditionaluuencode
input. Without-r
it has no effect. -o
output_file- Output to output_file instead of any pathname contained in the input data.
-p
- Decode file and write output to standard output.
-r
- Decode raw (or broken) input, which is missing the initial and possibly
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 asb64decode
, 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 reasons.
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 sys1!sys2!user
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) (net/freebsd-uucp), uuencode(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).