uuencode(1C)              USER COMMANDS              uuencode(1C)



NAME
     uuencode, uudecode - encode a binary  file,  or  decode  its
     ASCII representation

SYNOPSIS
     uuencode [ source-file ] file-label

     uudecode [ encoded-file ]

DESCRIPTION
     uuencode  converts  a  binary  file  into  an  ASCII-encoded
     representation  that  can be sent using mail(1).  It encodes
     the contents of source-file, or the  standard  input  if  no
     source-file  argument  is given.  The file-label argument is
     required.  It is included in the encoded  file's  header  as
     the  name  of  the  file into which uudecode is to place the
     binary (decoded) data.  uuencode also includes the ownership
     and  permission  modes of source-file, so that file-label is
     recreated with those same ownership and permission modes.

     uudecode reads an encoded-file, strips off any  leading  and
     trailing  lines  added by mailer programs, and recreates the
     original binary data with the  filename  and  the  mode  and
     owner specified in the header.

     The encoded file is an ordinary ASCII text file; it  can  be
     edited  by  any  text editor.  But it is best only to change
     the mode or file-label in the header to avoid corrupting the
     decoded binary.

SEE ALSO
     mail(1), uucp(1C), uux(1C).
     uuencode(5) in the System Administrator's Reference Manual.

NOTES
     The encoded file's size is expanded by 35% (3  bytes  become
     4,  plus  control information), causing it to take longer to
     transmit than the equivalent binary.

     The user on the remote system who is invoking uudecode (typ-
     ically  uucp)  must have write permission on the file speci-
     fied in the file-label.

     Since both uuencode and uudecode run with  user  ID  set  to
     uucp,   uudecode   can  fail  with  permission  denied  when
     attempted in a directory that does not have write permission
     allowed for other.








             Last change: Basic Networking Utilities            1