path: root/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1

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.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
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.Dd $Mdocdate: July 22 2010 $
.Dt UUENCODE 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm uuencode ,
.Nm uudecode ,
.Nm b64encode ,
.Nm b64decode
.Nd encode/decode a binary file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm uuencode
.Op Fl m
.Op Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Ar name
.Nm uudecode
.Op Fl cimprs
.Op Ar
.Nm uudecode
.Op Fl i
.Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Pp
.Nm b64encode
.Op Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Ar name
.Nm b64decode
.Op Fl ciprs
.Op Ar
.Nm b64decode
.Op Fl i
.Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm uuencode
and
.Nm uudecode
utilities are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
that do not support formats other than printable
.Tn ASCII
data.
.Nm b64encode
and
.Nm b64decode
are equivalent to running
.Nm uuencode
and
.Nm uudecode
respectively with the
.Fl m
flag specified.
.Pp
.Nm uuencode
reads
.Ar file
(or by default, the standard input) and writes an encoded version
to the standard output, or to
.Ar output_file
if it has been specified.
The encoding uses only printing
.Tn ASCII
characters and includes the
mode of the file and the operand
.Ar name
for use by
.Nm uudecode .
.Pp
.Nm uudecode
transforms
.Dq uuencoded
files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form.
The resulting file is named either
.Ar name
or (depending on options passed to
.Nm uudecode )
.Ar output_file
and will have the mode of the original file except that set-user-ID
and execute bits are not retained.
.Nm uudecode
ignores any leading and trailing lines.
.Pp
The options for
.Nm uuencode
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width ident
.It Fl m
Use the Base64 method of encoding, rather than the traditional
.Nm
algorithm.
.It Fl o Ar output_file
Output to
.Ar output_file
instead of standard output.
.El
.Pp
The options for
.Nm uudecode
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width ident
.It Fl c
Decode more than one uuencoded file from
.Ar file
if possible.
.It Fl i
Do not overwrite files.
.It Fl m
When used with the
.Fl r
flag, decode Base64 input instead of traditional
.Nm
input.
Without
.Fl r
it has no effect.
.It Fl o Ar output_file
Output to
.Ar output_file
instead of any pathname contained in the input data.
.It Fl p
Decode
.Ar file
and write output to standard output.
.It Fl 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
.Nm
encoding, but if the
.Fl m
flag is used, or if the utility is invoked as
.Nm b64decode ,
then the input is assumed to be in Base64 format.
.It Fl s
Do not strip output pathname to base filename.
By default
.Nm uudecode
deletes any prefix ending with the last slash '/' for security
reasons.
.El
.Pp
The
.Nm uuencode
and
.Nm uudecode
utilities exit with 0 on success; 1 if an error occurred.
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it,
uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system.
When
.Nm uudecode
is run on the target system, the file
.Pa src_tree.tar.Z
will be created which may then be uncompressed and extracted
into the original tree.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ tar cf - src_tree | compress | \e
uuencode src_tree.tar.Z | mail user@example.com
.Ed
.Pp
The following example unpacks all uuencoded
files from your mailbox into your current working directory.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ uudecode -c \*(Lt $MAIL
.Ed
.Pp
The following example extracts a compressed tar
archive from your mailbox
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ uudecode -o /dev/stdout \*(Lt $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr basename 1 ,
.Xr compress 1 ,
.Xr mail 1 ,
.Xr uuencode 5
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm uudecode
and
.Nm uuencode
utilities are compliant with the
.St -p1003.1-2008
specification.
.Pp
The flags
.Op Fl ciprs
are extensions to that specification.
.Pp
The use of the
.Fl o
flag for
.Nm uuencode
and the
.Fl m
flag for
.Nm uudecode
are also extensions to that specification.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm uudecode
and
.Nm
utilities appeared in
.Bx 4.0 .
.Sh BUGS
Files encoded using the traditional algorithm are expanded by 35%
(3 bytes become 4 plus control information).