1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)uuencode.format.5 8.2 (Berkeley) 01/12/94 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt UUENCODE 5 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm uuencode 13.Nd format of an encoded uuencode file 14.Sh DESCRIPTION 15Files output by 16.Xr uuencode 1 17consist of a header line, 18followed by a number of body lines, 19and a trailer line. 20The 21.Xr uudecode 1 22command 23will ignore any lines preceding the header or 24following the trailer. 25Lines preceding a header must not, of course, 26look like a header. 27.Pp 28The header line is distinguished by having the first 296 characters 30.Dq begin\ \& 31(note the trailing space). 32The word 33.Em begin 34is followed by a mode (in octal), 35and a string which names the remote file. 36A space separates the three items in the header line. 37.Pp 38The body consists of a number of lines, each at most 62 characters 39long (including the trailing newline). 40These consist of a character count, 41followed by encoded characters, 42followed by a newline. 43The character count is a single printing character, 44and represents an integer, the number of bytes 45the rest of the line represents. 46Such integers are always in the range from 0 to 63 and can 47be determined by subtracting the character space (octal 40) 48from the character. 49.Pp 50Groups of 3 bytes are stored in 4 characters, 6 bits per character. 51All are offset by a space to make the characters printing. 52The last line may be shorter than the normal 45 bytes. 53If the size is not a multiple of 3, this fact can be determined 54by the value of the count on the last line. 55Extra garbage will be included to make the character count a multiple 56of 4. 57The body is terminated by a line with a count of zero. 58This line consists of one 59.Tn ASCII 60space. 61.Pp 62The trailer line consists of 63.Dq end 64on a line by itself. 65.Sh SEE ALSO 66.Xr uuencode 1 , 67.Xr uudecode 1 , 68.Xr uusend 1 , 69.Xr uucp 1 , 70.Xr mail 1 71.Sh HISTORY 72The 73.Nm uuencode 74file format appeared in 75.Bx 4.0 . 76.\" It was named uuencode.5 prior to 4.3 77