1UUDECODE(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual UUDECODE(1P)
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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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12 uudecode - decode a binary file
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15 uudecode [-o outfile][file]
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18 The uudecode utility shall read a file, or standard input if no file is
19 specified, that includes data created by the uuencode utility. The
20 uudecode utility shall scan the input file, searching for data compati‐
21 ble with one of the formats specified in uuencode, and attempt to cre‐
22 ate or overwrite the file described by the data (or overridden by the
23 -o option). The pathname shall be contained in the data or specified by
24 the -o option. The file access permission bits and contents for the
25 file to be produced shall be contained in that data. The mode bits of
26 the created file (other than standard output) shall be set from the
27 file access permission bits contained in the data; that is, other
28 attributes of the mode, including the file mode creation mask (see
29 umask()), shall not affect the file being produced.
30 If the pathname of the file to be produced exists, and the user does
32 not have write permission on that file, uudecode shall terminate with
33 an error. If the pathname of the file to be produced exists, and the
34 user has write permission on that file, the existing file shall be
35 overwritten.
36 If the input data was produced by uuencode on a system with a different
38 number of bits per byte than on the target system, the results of uude‐
39 code are unspecified.
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42 The uudecode utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
43 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
44 The following option shall be supported by the implementation:
46 -o outfile
48 A pathname of a file that shall be used instead of any pathname
49 contained in the input data. Specifying an outfile option-argu‐
50 ment of /dev/stdout shall indicate standard output.
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54 The following operand shall be supported:
55 file The pathname of a file containing the output of uuencode.
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60 See the INPUT FILES section.
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63 The input files shall be files containing the output of uuencode.
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66 The following environment variables shall affect the execution of uude‐
67 code:
68 LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables
70 that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
71 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
72 ables for the precedence of internationalization variables used
73 to determine the values of locale categories.)
74 LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
76 the other internationalization variables.
77 LC_CTYPE
79 Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
80 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
81 opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
82 LC_MESSAGES
84 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
85 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
86 NLSPATH
88 Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
89 LC_MESSAGES .
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93 Default.
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96 If the file data header encoded by uuencode is - or /dev/stdout, or the
97 -o /dev/stdout option overrides the file data, the standard output
98 shall be in the same format as the file originally encoded by uuencode.
99 Otherwise, the standard output shall not be used.
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102 The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
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105 The output file shall be in the same format as the file originally
106 encoded by uuencode.
107
109 None.
110
112 The following exit values shall be returned:
113 0 Successful completion.
115 >0 An error occurred.
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120 Default.
121 The following sections are informative.
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125 The user who is invoking uudecode must have write permission on any
126 file being created.
127 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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136 None.
137
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.
143 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.
147 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 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 as a standard input indicator. The developers of
151 the standard did not wish to overload the meaning of - in this manner.
152 The /dev/stdout concept exists on most modern systems. The /dev/stdout
153 syntax does not refer to a new special file. It is just a magic cookie
154 to specify standard output.
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157 None.
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160 umask(), uuencode
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163 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
164 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
165 -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
166 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
167 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
168 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
169 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
170 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
171 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
172IEEE/The Open Group 2003 UUDECODE(1P)