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uudecode(1)

NAME

     uuencode, uudecode, b64encode, b64decode -- encode/decode a binary file

SYNOPSIS

     uuencode [-m] [-o output_file] [file] name
     uudecode [-cimprs] [file ...]
     uudecode [-i] -o output_file
     b64encode [-o output_file] [file] name
     b64decode [-cimprs] [file ...]
     b64decode [-i] -o output_file [file]

DESCRIPTION

     The uuencode and uudecode utilities are used to transmit binary files
     over transmission mediums that do not support other than simple ASCII
     data.  The b64encode utility is synonymous with uuencode with the -m flag
     specified.  The b64decode utility is synonymous with uudecode with the -m
     flag specified.

     The uuencode utility reads file (or by default the standard input) and
     writes an encoded version to the standard output, or output_file if one
     has been specified.  The encoding uses only printing ASCII characters and
     includes the mode of the file and the operand name for use by uudecode.

     The uudecode utility transforms uuencoded files (or by default, the stan-
     dard input) into the original form.  The resulting file is named either
     name or (depending on options passed to uudecode) output_file and will
     have the mode of the original file except that setuid and execute bits
     are not retained.	The uudecode utility ignores any leading and trailing
     lines.

     The following options are available for uuencode:

     -m     Use the Base64 method of encoding, rather than the traditional
	    uuencode algorithm.

     -o output_file
	    Output to output_file instead of standard output.

     The following options are available for uudecode:

     -c     Decode more than one uuencoded file from file if possible.

     -i     Do not overwrite files.

     -m     When used with the -r flag, decode Base64 input instead of tradi-
	    tional uuencode input.  Without -r it has no effect.

     -o output_file
	    Output to output_file instead of any pathname contained in the
	    input data.

     -p     Decode file and write output to standard output.

     -r     Decode raw (or broken) input, which is missing the initial and
	    possibly the final framing lines.  The input is assumed to be in
	    the traditional uuencode encoding, but if the -m flag is used, or
	    if the utility is invoked as b64decode, then the input is assumed
     it and mails it to a user on another system.  When uudecode is run on the
     target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be created which may then
     be uncompressed and extracted into the original tree.

	   tar cf - src_tree | compress |
	   uuencode src_tree.tar.Z | mail sys1!sys2!user

     The following example unpacks all uuencoded files from your mailbox into
     your current working directory.

	   uudecode -c < $MAIL

     The following example extracts a compressed tar archive from your mailbox

	   uudecode -o /dev/stdout < $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -

SEE ALSO

     basename(1), compress(1), mail(1), uucp(1), uuencode(5)

BUGS

     Files encoded using the traditional algorithm are expanded by 35% (3
     bytes become 4 plus control information).

HISTORY

     The uudecode and uuencode utilities appeared in 4.0BSD.

FreeBSD 5.4		       January 27, 2002 		   FreeBSD 5.4

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