xref: /freebsd-12.1/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1 (revision 91bd71d2)
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32.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd January 27, 2002
36.Dt UUENCODE 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm uuencode ,
40.Nm uudecode
41.Nd encode/decode a binary file
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Ar file
45.Ar name
46.Nm uudecode
47.Op Fl cips
48.Op Ar
49.Nm uudecode
50.Op Fl i
51.Fl o Ar output_file
52.Op file
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54.Nm Uuencode
55and
56.Nm uudecode
57are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
58that do not support other than simple
59.Tn ASCII
60data.
61.Pp
62.Nm Uuencode
63reads
64.Ar file
65(or by default the standard input) and writes an encoded version
66to the standard output.
67The encoding uses only printing
68.Tn ASCII
69characters and includes the
70mode of the file and the operand
71.Ar name
72for use by
73.Nm uudecode .
74.Pp
75.Nm Uudecode
76transforms
77.Em uuencoded
78files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form.
79The resulting file is named either
80.Ar name
81or (depending on options passed to
82.Nm uudecode )
83.Ar output_file
84and will have the mode of the original file except that setuid
85and execute bits are not retained.
86.Nm Uudecode
87ignores any leading and trailing lines.
88.Pp
89The following options are available for
90.Nm uudecode :
91.Bl -tag -width ident
92.It Fl c
93Decode more than one uuencode'd file from
94.Ar file
95if possible.
96.It Fl i
97Do not overwrite files.
98.It Fl o Ar output_file
99Output to
100.Ar output_file
101instead of
102.Ar name .
103.It Fl p
104Decode
105.Ar file
106and write output to standard output.
107(This option is deprecated in favor of
108.Fl o Ar /dev/stdout
109\&.)
110.It Fl s
111Do not strip output pathname to base filename.
112By default
113.Nm uudecode
114deletes any prefix ending with the last slash '/' for security
115purpose.
116.El
117.Sh EXAMPLES
118The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it,
119uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system.
120When
121.Nm uudecode
122is run on the target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be
123created which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original
124tree.
125.Pp
126.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
127tar cf \- src_tree \&| compress \&|
128uuencode src_tree.tar.Z \&| mail sys1!sys2!user
129.Ed
130.Pp
131The following example unpack all uuencode'd
132files from your mailbox into your current working directory.
133.Pp
134.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
135uudecode -c < $MAIL
136.Ed
137.Pp
138The following example extract a compress'ed tar
139archive from your mailbox
140.Pp
141.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
142uudecode -o /dev/stdout < $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -
143.Ed
144.Sh SEE ALSO
145.Xr basename 1 ,
146.Xr compress 1 ,
147.Xr mail 1 ,
148.Xr uucp 1 ,
149.Xr uuencode 5
150.Sh BUGS
151The encoded form of the file is expanded by 35% (3 bytes become 4 plus
152control information).
153.Sh HISTORY
154The
155.Nm uudecode
156and
157.Nm
158utilities appeared in
159.Bx 4.0 .
160