uuencode(1)                                         uuencode(1)





NAME
       uuencode - encode a binary file

       uudecode - decode a file created by uuencode

SYNOPSIS
       uuencode [-m] [ file ] name

       uudecode [-o outfile] [ file ]...

DESCRIPTION
       Uuencode  and uudecode are used to transmit binary files
       over transmission mediums that do not support other than
       simple ASCII data.

       Uuencode  reads  file (or by default the standard input)
       and writes an encoded version to  the  standard  output.
       The  encoding  uses  only  printing ASCII characters and
       includes the mode of the file and the operand  name  for
       use by uudecode.  If name is /dev/stdout the result will
       be written to standard output.  By default the  standard
       UU  encoding  format  will be used.  If the option -m is
       given on  the  command  line  base64  encoding  is  used
       instead.

       Uudecode  transforms uuencoded files (or by default, the
       standard input) into the original form.   The  resulting
       file  is  named  name  (or  outfile  if the -o option is
       given) and will have  the  mode  of  the  original  file
       except  that  setuid  and execute bits are not retained.
       If outfile or name is /dev/stdout  the  result  will  be
       written  to standard output.  Uudecode ignores any lead-
       ing and trailing lines.  The program  can  automatically
       decide  which of the both supported encoding schemes are
       used.

EXAMPLES
       The following example packages up a  source  tree,  com-
       presses  it,  uuencodes  it  and  mails  it to a user on
       another system.  When uudecode is run on the target sys-
       tem,  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


SEE ALSO
       compress(1), mail(1), uucp(1), uuencode(5)

STANDARDS
       This implementation is compliant with P1003.2b/D11.

BUGS
       If more than one file is given to uudecode  and  the  -o
       option  is  given  or  more than one name in the encoded
       files are the same the result is probably  not  what  is
       expected.

       The  encoded  form of the file is expanded by 37% for UU
       encoding and by 35% for base64 encoding (3 bytes  become
       4 plus control information).

HISTORY
       The uuencode command appeared in BSD 4.0.



                                                    uuencode(1)
