xref: /openbsd/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1 (revision db3296cf)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: uuencode.1,v 1.13 2003/06/03 02:56:21 millert Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: uuencode.1,v 1.4 1994/11/17 07:39:42 jtc Exp $
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31.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
32.\"
33.Dd June 6, 1993
34.Dt UUENCODE 1
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm uuencode ,
38.Nm uudecode
39.Nd encode/decode a binary file
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm uuencode
42.Op Ar file
43.Ar name
44.Nm uudecode
45.Op Fl p
46.Op Ar file ...
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48.Nm uuencode
49and
50.Nm uudecode
51are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
52that do not support formats other than printable
53.Tn ASCII
54data.
55.Pp
56.Nm uuencode
57reads
58.Ar file
59(or by default, the standard input) and writes an encoded version
60to the standard output.
61The encoding uses only printing
62.Tn ASCII
63characters and includes the
64mode of the file and the operand
65.Ar name
66for use by
67.Nm uudecode .
68.Pp
69.Nm uudecode
70transforms
71.Dq uuencoded
72files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form.
73The resulting file is named
74.Ar name
75and will have the mode of the original file except that set-user-ID
76and execute bits are not retained.
77If the
78.Fl p
79option is specified, the output will instead be written to stdout.
80.Nm uudecode
81ignores any leading and trailing lines.
82.Sh EXAMPLES
83The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it,
84uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system.
85When
86.Nm uudecode
87is run on the target system, the file
88.Pa src_tree.tar.Z
89will be created which may then be uncompressed and extracted
90into the original tree.
91.Pp
92.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
93$ tar cf \- src_tree \&| compress \&| \\
94uuencode src_tree.tar.Z \&| mail user@example.com
95.Ed
96.Pp
97Both utilities exit 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
98.Sh SEE ALSO
99.Xr compress 1 ,
100.Xr mail 1 ,
101.Xr uuencode 5
102.Sh STANDARDS
103The
104.Nm uudecode
105and
106.Nm uuencode
107utilities conform to
108.St -p1003.2-92 .
109.Sh HISTORY
110The
111.Nm uudecode
112and
113.Nm uuencode
114utilities appeared in
115.Bx 4.0 .
116.Sh BUGS
117The encoded form of the file is expanded by 35% (3 bytes become 4 plus
118control information).
119