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