NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     uuencode - format of an encoded uuencode file

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     Files output by uuencode(1) consist of a header  line,  followed by a number
 of body lines, and a trailer line.  The uudecode(1) command will ignore
 any lines preceding the header or following the  trailer.  Lines preceding
 a header must not, of course, look like a header.

     The header line is distinguished by having the first 6 characters
     ``begin '' (note the trailing space).   The  word  begin  is
followed by a
     mode  (in  octal), and a string which names the remote file.
A space separates
 the three items in the header line.

     The body consists of a number of  lines,  each  at  most  62
characters long
     (including  the trailing newline).  These consist of a character count,
     followed by encoded characters, followed by a newline.   The
character
     count  is a single printing character, and represents an integer, the number
 of bytes the rest of the line represents.  Such integers
are always
     in the range from 0 to 63 and can be determined by subtracting the character
 space (octal 40) from the character.

     Groups of 3 bytes are stored in 4  characters,  6  bits  per
character.  All
     are  offset by a space to make the characters printing.  The
last line may
     be shorter than the normal 45 bytes.  If the size is  not  a
multiple of 3,
     this fact can be determined by the value of the count on the
last line.
     Extra garbage will be included to make the character count a
multiple of
     4.   The  body is terminated by a line with a count of zero.
This line
     consists of one ASCII ` (opening single quote) character.

     The trailer line consists of ``end'' on a line by itself.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     mail(1), uudecode(1), uuencode(1)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The uuencode file format appeared in 4.0BSD.

OpenBSD     3.6                        January      12,      1994