xref: /freebsd-13.1/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1 (revision 3a669c52)
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32.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
50.Nm Uuencode
51and
52.Nm uudecode
53are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
54that do not support other than simple
55.Tn ASCII
56data.
57.Pp
58.Nm Uuencode
59reads
60.Ar file
61(or by default the standard input) and writes an encoded version
62to the standard output.
63The encoding uses only printing
64.Tn ASCII
65characters and includes the
66mode of the file and the operand
67.Ar name
68for use by
69.Nm uudecode .
70.Pp
71.Nm Uudecode
72transforms
73.Em uuencoded
74files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form.
75The resulting file is named
76.Ar name
77and will have the mode of the original file except that setuid
78and execute bits are not retained.
79.Nm Uudecode
80ignores any leading and trailing lines.
81.Pp
82The following options are available for
83.Nm uudecode :
84.Bl -tag -width ident
85.It Fl c
86Decode more than one uuencode'd file from
87.Ar file
88if possible.
89.It Fl i
90Do not overwrite files.
91.It Fl p
92Decode
93.Ar file
94and write output to standard output.
95.It Fl s
96Do not strip output pathname to base filename.
97By default
98.Nm uudecode
99deletes any prefix ending with the last slash '/' for security
100purpose.
101.El
102.Sh EXAMPLES
103The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it,
104uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system.
105When
106.Nm uudecode
107is run on the target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be
108created which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original
109tree.
110.Pp
111.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
112tar cf \- src_tree \&| compress \&|
113uuencode src_tree.tar.Z \&| mail sys1!sys2!user
114.Ed
115.Pp
116The following example unpack all uuencode'd
117files from your mailbox into your current working directory.
118.Pp
119.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
120uudecode -c < $MAIL
121.Ed
122.Pp
123The following example extract a compress'ed tar
124archive from your mailbox
125.Pp
126.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
127uudecode -p < $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -
128.Ed
129.Sh SEE ALSO
130.Xr basename 1 ,
131.Xr compress 1 ,
132.Xr mail 1 ,
133.Xr uucp 1 ,
134.Xr uuencode 5
135.Sh BUGS
136The encoded form of the file is expanded by 35% (3 bytes become 4 plus
137control information).
138.Sh HISTORY
139The
140.Nm uudecode
141and
142.Nm
143utilities appeared in
144.Bx 4.0 .
145