File: *manpages*, Node: uuencode, Up: (dir)
uuencode(1) uuencode(1)
NAME
uuencode - encode a binary file
uudecode - decode a file created by uuencode
SYNOPSIS
uuencode [-m] [ file ] name
uudecode [-o outfile] [ file ]...
DESCRIPTION
Uuencode and uudecode are used to transmit binary files over transmis-
sion mediums that do not support other than simple ASCII data.
Uuencode reads file (or by default the standard input) and writes an
encoded version to the standard output. The encoding uses only print-
ing ASCII characters and includes the mode of the file and the operand
name for use by uudecode. If name is /dev/stdout the result will be
written to standard output. By default the standard UU encoding for-
mat will be used. If the option -m is given on the command line
base64 encoding is used instead.
Uudecode transforms uuencoded files (or by default, the standard
input) into the original form. The resulting file is named name (or
outfile if the -o option is given) and will have the mode of the orig-
inal file except that setuid and execute bits are not retained. If
outfile or name is /dev/stdout the result will be written to standard
output. Uudecode ignores any leading and trailing lines. The program
can automatically decide which of the both supported encoding schemes
are used.
EXAMPLES
The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it, uuen-
codes 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
SEE ALSO
compress(1), mail(1), uucp(1), uuencode(5)
STANDARDS
This implementation is compliant with P1003.2b/D11.
BUGS
If more than one file is given to uudecode and the -o option is given
or more than one name in the encoded files are the same the result is
probably not what is expected.
The encoded form of the file is expanded by 37% for UU encoding and by
35% for base64 encoding (3 bytes become 4 plus control information).
HISTORY
The uuencode command appeared in BSD 4.0.
uuencode(1)
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