UUENCODE(1) BSD Reference Manual UUENCODE(1) NNAAMMEE uuuueennccooddee, uuuuddeeccooddee - encode/decode a binary file SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS uuuueennccooddee [_f_i_l_e] _n_a_m_e uuuuddeeccooddee [_f_i_l_e _._._.] DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN UUuueennccooddee and uuuuddeeccooddee are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums that do not support other than simple ASCII data. UUuueennccooddee reads _f_i_l_e (or by default the standard input) and writes an en- coded version to the standard output. The encoding uses only printing ASCII characters and includes the mode of the file and the operand _n_a_m_e for use by uuuuddeeccooddee. UUuuddeeccooddee transforms _u_u_e_n_c_o_d_e_d files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form. The resulting file is named _n_a_m_e and will have the mode of the original file except that setuid and execute bits are not retained. UUuuddeeccooddee ignores any leading and trailing lines. EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it, uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system. When uuuuddeeccooddee is run on the target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be created which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original tree. tar cf - src_tree | compress | uuencode src_tree.tar.Z | mail sys1!sys2!user SSEEEE AALLSSOO compress(1), mail(1), uucp(1), uuencode(5), format(5) BBUUGGSS The encoded form of the file is expanded by 35% (3 bytes become 4 plus control information). HHIISSTTOORRYY The uuuueennccooddee command appeared in 4.0BSD. 4th Berkeley Distribution June 6, 1993 1