1uuencode(1) General Commands Manual uuencode(1)
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6 uuencode, uudecode - encode a binary file, or decode its representation
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9 uuencode [-m] [ file ] name
10 uudecode [-o outfile] [ file ]...
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14 Uuencode and uudecode are used to transmit binary files over channels
15 that support only simple ASCII data.
16 Uuencode reads file (or by default the standard input) and writes an
18 encoded version to the standard output, using only printable ASCII
19 characters. The encoded output begins with a header, for use by uude‐
20 code, which records the mode of the input file and suggests name for
21 the decoded file that will be created. (If name is /dev/stdout then
22 uudecode will decode to standard output.) The encoding has the format
23 documented at uuencode(5), unless the option -m is given, when base64
24 encoding is used instead.
25 Note: uuencode uses buffered input and assumes that it is not hand
27 typed from a tty. The consequence is that at a tty, you may need to
28 hit Ctl-D several times to terminate input.
29 Uudecode transforms uuencoded files (or standard input) into the origi‐
31 nal form. The resulting file is named name (or outfile if the -o
32 option is given) and will have the mode of the original file except
33 that setuid and execute bits are not retained. If outfile or name is
34 /dev/stdout the result will be written to standard output. Uudecode
35 ignores any leading and trailing lines. The program determines from
36 the header which of the two supported encoding schemes was used.
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39 The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it, uuen‐
40 codes it and mails it to a user on another system. When uudecode is
41 run on the target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be created
42 which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original tree.
43 tar cf - src_tree | compress | uuencode src_tree.tar.Z | mail
45 sys1!sys2!user
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48 compress(1), mail(1), uucp(1), uuencode(5)
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51 This implementation is compliant with P1003.2b/D11.
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54 If more than one file is given to uudecode and the -o option is given
55 or more than one name in the encoded files are the same the result is
56 probably not what is expected.
57 The encoded form of the file is expanded by 37% for UU encoding and by
59 35% for base64 encoding (3 bytes become 4 plus control information).
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62 Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>. Please put sharutils or uuen‐
63 code in the subject line. It helps to spot the message.
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66 The uuencode command appeared in BSD 4.0.
67 uuencode(1)