uuencode(1)uuencode(1)NAME
uuencode, uudecode - Encodes or decodes a binary file
SYNOPSIS
uuencode [file] remotefile
uudecode [file...]
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry stan‐
dards as follows:
uudecode: XCU5.0
uuencode: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
industry standards and associated tags.
DESCRIPTION
The uuencode and uudecode commands are used to send a binary file via
uucp or other mail. This combination can be used over indirect mail
links even when uusend is not available.
The uuencode command takes the named file (default standard input) and
produces an encoded version on the standard output. The encoding uses
only printing ASCII characters, and includes the mode of the file and
the name for re-creation on the remote system, specified by remotefile.
The uudecode command reads an encoded file, strips off any leading and
trailing lines added by mailers, and re-creates the original file with
the specified mode and name. The specified mode can be either abso‐
lute or symbolic. Filter the encode through the uudecode program. Fil‐
tering the file causes the original file to be automatically re-cre‐
ated. This is possible on the uucp network by using sendmail or by
making rmail be a link to mailx. In each case, an alias must be created
in a master file to get the automatic invocation of uudecode.
If neither of the preceding facilities is available on a user's system,
uudecode can be applied to the file manually by editing the file with
any text editor, removing the trailing and leading lines, and changing
the mode or remote system name. The encoded file is an ordinary text
file.
EXAMPLES
In the following example, the ex1 file is encoded; the output is also
redirected to the ex1.out file: prompt> uuencode ex1 ex1.en > ex1.out
If the source ex1 file is as follows:
This example shows how to encode a file using uuencode and how
to decode a file using uudecode.
The encoded ex1.out file would be as follows:
begin 644 ex1.en
M5&AI<R!E>&%M<&QE('-H;W=S"G1H92!H;W<@=&\@96YC;V1E"F$@9FEL92!U
M<VEN9PIU=65N8V]D90IA;F0@:&]W('1O"F1E8V]D92!A(&9I;&4*=7-I;F<@
*=75D96-O9&4N"F]D ` end In the following example, the ex1.out
file is decoded: prompt> uudecode ex1.out
In this example, the uudecode command decodes the file and puts
the output in ex1.en. To package up a source tree using tar,
compress it, uuencode it, and mail it to a user on another sys‐
tem, enter: tar cf - src_tree | compress | uuencode
src_tree.tar.Z | mail sys1!sys2!user1
(Enter the command entirely on one line, not on two lines as
shown above.)
When uudecode is run on the target system, the src_tree.tar.Z
file is created; it may then be uncompressed and dearchived with
tar.
SEE ALSO
Commands: ct(1), cu(1), mailx(1), Mail(1), rmail(1), sendmail(8),
tip(1), uucico(8), uucleanup(8), uucp(1), uulog(1), uuname(1),
uupick(1), uusched(8), uusend(1), uustat(1), uuto(1), uux(1)
Standards: standards(5)uuencode(1)
