UUENCODE(5)                          BSD                           UUENCODE(5)



NAME
     uuencode - format of an encoded uuencode file

DESCRIPTION
     Files output by uuencode consist of a header line, followed by a number
     of body lines, and a trailer line.  uudecode 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 characters, 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 characters 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 terminated by a line with a count of zero.  This line
     consists of one ASCII space.

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

SEE ALSO
     uuencode(1C), Uudecode(1C), uusend(1C), uucp(1C), mail(1)