UUENCODE(5)                                         UUENCODE(5)





NAME
       uuencode - format of an encoded uuencode file

DESCRIPTION
       Files  output  by  uuencode(1) consist of a header line,
       followed by a number of body lines, and a trailer  line.
       The  uudecode(1) command will ignore any lines preceding
       the header or following the trailer.  Lines preceding  a
       header must not, of course, look like a header.

       The  header  line is distinguished by having the first 6
       characters begin  The word begin is followed by  a  mode
       (in octal), and a string which names the remote file.  A
       space separates the three items in the header line.

       The body consists of a number of lines, each at most  62
       characters long (including the trailing newline).  These
       consist of a character count, followed by encoded  char-
       acters, followed by a newline.  The character count is a
       single printing character, and  represents  an  integer,
       the  number  of  bytes  the rest of the line represents.
       Such integers are always in the range from 0 to  63  and
       can  be  determined  by  subtracting the character space
       (octal 40) from the character.

       Groups of 3 bytes are stored in 4 characters, 6 bits per
       character.   All are offset by a space to make the char-
       acters printing.  The last line may be shorter than  the
       normal  45  bytes.   If the size is not a multiple of 3,
       this fact can be determined by the value of the count on
       the  last  line.  Extra garbage will be included to make
       the character count a multiple of 4.  The body is termi-
       nated  by  a  line with a count of zero.  This line con-
       sists of one ASCII space.

       The trailer line consists of end on a line by itself.

SEE ALSO
       uuencode(1), uudecode(1), uusend(1), uucp(1), mail(1)

HISTORY
       The uuencode file format appeared in BSD 4.0 .



                                                    UUENCODE(5)
