2 .TH bincode 1 "9 January 2009" "Straylight/Edgeware" "mLib utilities library"
4 bincode \- binary-to-text encoding and decoding
20 program encodes binary data as plain text (suitable, for example, for
21 use in email), and recovers binary data from its encoding.
23 The options are as follows.
26 Print a help message to standard output and exit successfully.
29 Print the program's version number to standard output and exit
33 Print a one-line usage summary to standard output and exit successfully.
36 Read encoded data and write the result of decoding it.
39 Read raw binary data and write the result of encoding.
41 .BI "\-f, \-\-flags=" flags
42 Set encoding/decoding flags. The
44 are a list of comma-separated flag names, each preceded by an optional
46 to set the flag (the default) or
48 to clear it. The flag names are as listed in
50 but in lower case, and without the
56 This option may be repeated: the options are scanned left-to-right. The
57 only flag set by default is
60 .BI "\-i, \-\-indent=" indent
63 string before each line. The string may contain simple
72 respectively stand for alert, backspace, form-feed, newline, carriage
73 return, and horizontal and vertical tab. A backslash preceding any
74 other character yields that character; hence, to include a backslash,
75 write a double backslash. The default is the empty string: i.e., just
76 end each line with a newline character.
78 .BI "\-m, \-\-maxline=" maxline
79 Set the maximum output line length to
81 when encoding. The limit is ignored when decoding. If
83 is zero, then no line splitting is performed.
85 .BI "\-o, \-\-output=" output
86 Write the (encoded or decoded) output to
88 The default is to write to standard output. On platforms where it makes
89 a difference, the output file is opened in text mode when encoding, and
90 in binary mode when decoding.
92 The input to be encoded or decoded is the concatenation of the specified
94 If no files are listed, then standard input is read. A
98 also means to read standard input. On systems where it makes a
99 difference, named files are read in binary mode when encoding and in
100 text mode when decoding.
102 If an error is encountered, the output may be partially written.
106 Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>