1UUDECODE(1P)               POSIX Programmer's Manual              UUDECODE(1P)
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PROLOG

6       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
7       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
8       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9       not be implemented on Linux.
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NAME

13       uudecode — decode a binary file
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SYNOPSIS

16       uudecode [−o outfile] [file]
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DESCRIPTION

19       The uudecode utility shall read a file, or standard input if no file is
20       specified,  that  includes  data  created  by the uuencode utility. The
21       uudecode utility shall scan the input file, searching for data compati‐
22       ble  with one of the formats specified in uuencode, and attempt to cre‐
23       ate or overwrite the file described by the data (or overridden  by  the
24       −o option). The pathname shall be contained in the data or specified by
25       the −o option. The file access permission bits  and  contents  for  the
26       file  to  be produced shall be contained in that data. The mode bits of
27       the created file (other than standard output) shall  be  set  from  the
28       file  access  permission  bits  contained  in  the data; that is, other
29       attributes of the mode, including the  file  mode  creation  mask  (see
30       umask),  shall  not affect the file being produced. If either of the op
31       characters '+' and '−' (see chmod) are specified in symbolic mode,  the
32       initial mode on which those operations are based is unspecified.
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34       If  the  pathname  of the file to be produced exists, and the user does
35       not have write permission on that file, uudecode shall  terminate  with
36       an  error.  If  the pathname of the file to be produced exists, and the
37       user has write permission on that file,  the  existing  file  shall  be
38       overwritten.
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40       If the input data was produced by uuencode on a system with a different
41       number of bits per byte than on the target system, the results of uude‐
42       code are unspecified.
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OPTIONS

45       The  uudecode  utility  shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
46       POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
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48       The following option shall be supported by the implementation:
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50       −o outfile
51                 A pathname of a file that shall be used instead of any  path‐
52                 name  contained  in  the  input  data.  Specifying an outfile
53                 option-argument of /dev/stdout shall indicate  standard  out‐
54                 put.
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OPERANDS

57       The following operand shall be supported:
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59       file      The pathname of a file containing the output of uuencode.
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STDIN

62       See the INPUT FILES section.
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INPUT FILES

65       The input files shall be files containing the output of uuencode.
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ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

68       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of uude‐
69       code:
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71       LANG      Provide a default value for  the  internationalization  vari‐
72                 ables  that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions vol‐
73                 ume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization  Vari‐
74                 ables  for  the  precedence of internationalization variables
75                 used to determine the values of locale categories.)
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77       LC_ALL    If set to a non-empty string value, override  the  values  of
78                 all the other internationalization variables.
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80       LC_CTYPE  Determine  the  locale for the interpretation of sequences of
81                 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
82                 opposed  to  multi-byte  characters  in  arguments  and input
83                 files).
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85       LC_MESSAGES
86                 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
87                 and  contents  of  diagnostic  messages  written  to standard
88                 error.
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90       NLSPATH   Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing
91                 of LC_MESSAGES.
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ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

94       Default.
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STDOUT

97       If the file data header encoded by uuencode is or /dev/stdout, or the
98       −o /dev/stdout option overrides the  file  data,  the  standard  output
99       shall be in the same format as the file originally encoded by uuencode.
100       Otherwise, the standard output shall not be used.
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STDERR

103       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
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OUTPUT FILES

106       The output file shall be in the same  format  as  the  file  originally
107       encoded by uuencode.
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EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

110       None.
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EXIT STATUS

113       The following exit values shall be returned:
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115        0    Successful completion.
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117       >0    An error occurred.
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CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

120       Default.
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122       The following sections are informative.
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APPLICATION USAGE

125       The  user  who  is  invoking uudecode must have write permission on any
126       file being created.
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128       The output of uuencode is essentially an encoded bit stream that is not
129       cognizant  of  byte boundaries. It is possible that a 9-bit byte target
130       machine can process input from an 8-bit source, if it is aware  of  the
131       requirement,  but  the reverse is unlikely to be satisfying. Of course,
132       the only data that is meaningful for such a transfer between  architec‐
133       tures is generally character data.
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EXAMPLES

136       None.
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RATIONALE

139       Input  files are not necessarily text files, as stated by an early pro‐
140       posal. Although the uuencode output is a text file, that  output  could
141       have  been  wrapped  within  another file or mail message that is not a
142       text file.
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144       The −o option is not historical practice, but was added at the  request
145       of  WG15  so  that  the user could override the target pathname without
146       having to edit the input data itself.
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148       In early drafts, the [−o outfile] option-argument allowed the use of  
149       to  mean standard output. The symbol has only been used previously in
150       POSIX.1‐2008 as a standard input indicator.   The  standard  developers
151       did not wish to overload the meaning of in this manner. The /dev/std‐
152       out concept exists on most modern systems. The /dev/stdout syntax  does
153       not  refer  to a new special file. It is just a magic cookie to specify
154       standard output.
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS

157       None.
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SEE ALSO

160       chmod, umask, uuencode
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162       The Base Definitions volume of  POSIX.1‐2008,  Chapter  8,  Environment
163       Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
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166       Portions  of  this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
167       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
168       --  Portable  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
169       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri‐
170       cal  and  Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and  The  Open Group.  (This is
171       POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum  1  applied.)  In  the
172       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
173       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
174       is  the  referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
175       at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
176
177       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear  in  this  page  are
178       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
179       files to man page format. To report such errors,  see  https://www.ker
180       nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
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184IEEE/The Open Group                  2013                         UUDECODE(1P)
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