[sgt/utils] / base64 / base64.but

\cfg{man-identity}{base64}{1}{2004-11-20}{Simon Tatham}{Simon Tatham}
\cfg{man-mindepth}{1}

\C{base64-manpage} Man page for \cw{base64}

\H{base64-manpage-name} NAME

\cw{base64} - stand-alone encoder and decoder for base64

\H{base64-manpage-synopsis} SYNOPSIS

\c base64 [ -d ] [ filename ]
\e bbbbbb   bb     iiiiiiii
\c base64 -e [ -cwidth ] [ filename ]
\e bbbbbb bb   bbiiiii     iiiiiiii

\H{base64-manpage-description} DESCRIPTION

\cw{base64} is a command-line utility for encoding and decoding the
\q{base64} encoding.

This encoding, defined in RFC 2045, is primarily used to encode
binary attachments in MIME e-mail, but is widely used in many other
applications as well. For example, the \q{Content-MD5} mail header
contains a small piece of base64; SSH private keys are generally
stored as base64-encoded blobs; and so on.

Other utilities, such as \cw{munpack}, exist which will take an
entire MIME-encoded message, identify the base64-encoded subparts,
and decode them. However, these utilities will not help you if you
need to inspect a Content-MD5 header or an SSH private key.

\cw{base64} is a very simple stand-alone encoder and decoder for the
base64 format \e{alone}. It does not try to understand MIME headers
or anything other than raw data.

\H{base64-manpage-options} OPTIONS

By default (if neither \cw{-d} or \cw{-e} is supplied), \cw{base64}
operates in decode mode.

\dt \cw{-d}

\dd Places \cw{base64} into decode mode. In this mode, it will read
from standard input or the supplied file name, ignore all characters
that are not part of the base64 alphabet, decode the ones that are,
and output the decoded data on standard output.

\dt \cw{-e}

\dd Places \cw{base64} into encode mode. In this mode, it will read
binary data from standard input or the supplied file name, encode it
as base64, and output the encoded data on standard output.

\dt \cw{-c}\e{width}

\dd If \cw{base64} is operating in encode mode, this controls the
number of base64 characters output per line of the encoded file.
Normally base64-reading applications do not care about this, so the
default of 64 characters per line is perfectly adequate.

\lcont{

The special value 0 will prevent \cw{base64} from ever writing a
line break in the middle of the data at all.

The base64 encoding converts between a group of three plaintext
bytes and a group of four encoded bytes. \cw{base64} does not
support breaking an encoded group across a line (although it can
handle it as input if it receives it). Therefore, the \e{width}
parameter passed to \cw{-c} must be a multiple of 4.

}

\H{base64-manpage-licence} LICENCE

\cw{base64} is free software, distributed under the MIT licence.
Type \cw{base64 --licence} to see the full licence text.
Commit	Line	Data
fe25517f	1	\cfg{man-identity}{base64}{1}{2004-11-20}{Simon Tatham}{Simon Tatham}
9acadc2b	2	\cfg{man-mindepth}{1}
	3
	4	\C{base64-manpage} Man page for \cw{base64}
	5
	6	\H{base64-manpage-name} NAME
	7
	8	\cw{base64} - stand-alone encoder and decoder for base64
	9
	10	\H{base64-manpage-synopsis} SYNOPSIS
	11
	12	\c base64 [ -d ] [ filename ]
	13	\e bbbbbb bb iiiiiiii
	14	\c base64 -e [ -cwidth ] [ filename ]
	15	\e bbbbbb bb bbiiiii iiiiiiii
	16
	17	\H{base64-manpage-description} DESCRIPTION
	18
	19	\cw{base64} is a command-line utility for encoding and decoding the
	20	\q{base64} encoding.
	21
	22	This encoding, defined in RFC 2045, is primarily used to encode
	23	binary attachments in MIME e-mail, but is widely used in many other
	24	applications as well. For example, the \q{Content-MD5} mail header
	25	contains a small piece of base64; SSH private keys are generally
	26	stored as base64-encoded blobs; and so on.
	27
	28	Other utilities, such as \cw{munpack}, exist which will take an
	29	entire MIME-encoded message, identify the base64-encoded subparts,
	30	and decode them. However, these utilities will not help you if you
	31	need to inspect a Content-MD5 header or an SSH private key.
	32
	33	\cw{base64} is a very simple stand-alone encoder and decoder for the
	34	base64 format \e{alone}. It does not try to understand MIME headers
	35	or anything other than raw data.
	36
	37	\H{base64-manpage-options} OPTIONS
	38
	39	By default (if neither \cw{-d} or \cw{-e} is supplied), \cw{base64}
	40	operates in decode mode.
	41
	42	\dt \cw{-d}
	43
	44	\dd Places \cw{base64} into decode mode. In this mode, it will read
	45	from standard input or the supplied file name, ignore all characters
	46	that are not part of the base64 alphabet, decode the ones that are,
	47	and output the decoded data on standard output.
	48
	49	\dt \cw{-e}
	50
	51	\dd Places \cw{base64} into encode mode. In this mode, it will read
	52	binary data from standard input or the supplied file name, encode it
	53	as base64, and output the encoded data on standard output.
	54
	55	\dt \cw{-c}\e{width}
	56
	57	\dd If \cw{base64} is operating in encode mode, this controls the
	58	number of base64 characters output per line of the encoded file.
	59	Normally base64-reading applications do not care about this, so the
	60	default of 64 characters per line is perfectly adequate.
	61
	62	\lcont{
	63
	64	The special value 0 will prevent \cw{base64} from ever writing a
	65	line break in the middle of the data at all.
66
67	The base64 encoding converts between a group of three plaintext
68	bytes and a group of four encoded bytes. \cw{base64} does not
da0f8522	69	support breaking an encoded group across a line (although it can
	70	handle it as input if it receives it). Therefore, the \e{width}
	71	parameter passed to \cw{-c} must be a multiple of 4.
9acadc2b	72
9acadc2b	73	}
da0f8522	74
	75	\H{base64-manpage-licence} LICENCE
	76
	77	\cw{base64} is free software, distributed under the MIT licence.
	78	Type \cw{base64 --licence} to see the full licence text.