usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1

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.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1,v 1.9.2.9 2003/04/07 20:11:46 fanf Exp $
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.Dd January 27, 2002
.Dt UUENCODE 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm uuencode ,
.Nm uudecode ,
.Nm b64encode ,
.Nm b64decode
.Nd encode/decode a binary file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.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
.Nm b64encode
.Op Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Ar name
.Nm b64decode
.Op Fl cimprs
.Op Ar
.Nm b64decode
.Op Fl i
.Fl o Ar output_file
.Op Ar file
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
and
.Nm uudecode
utilities are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
that do not support other than simple
.Tn ASCII
data.
The
.Nm b64encode
utility is synonymous with
.Nm
with the
.Fl m
flag specified.
The
.Nm b64decode
utility is synonymous with
.Nm uudecode
with the
.Fl m
flag specified.
.Pp
The
.Nm
utility reads
.Ar file
(or by default the standard input) and writes an encoded version
to the standard output, or
.Ar output_file
if one 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
The
.Nm uudecode
utility transforms
.Em 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 setuid
and execute bits are not retained.
The
.Nm uudecode
utility ignores any leading and trailing lines.
.Pp
The following options are available for
.Nm :
.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 following options are available for
.Nm uudecode :
.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
.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 ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be
created which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original
tree.
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
tar cf \- src_tree \&| compress \&|
uuencode src_tree.tar.Z \&| mail sys1!sys2!user
.Ed
.Pp
The following example unpacks all uuencoded
files from your mailbox into your current working directory.
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
uudecode -c < $MAIL
.Ed
.Pp
The following example extracts a compressed tar
archive from your mailbox
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
uudecode -o /dev/stdout < $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr basename 1 ,
.Xr compress 1 ,
.Xr mail 1 ,
.Xr uucp 1 ,
.Xr uuencode 5
.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).