Uuencode - Uudecode manual

DESCRIPTION

Uuencode  and  uudecode  are used to transmit binary files
over transmission mediums that do not support  other  than
simple ASCII data.

Uuencode reads file (or by default the standard input) and
writes an encoded version to  the  standard  output.   The
encoding  uses only printing ASCII characters and includes
the mode of the file and the operand name for use by uude-
code.

Uudecode  transforms  uuencoded  files (or by default, the
standard input) into the  original  form.   The  resulting
file  is named name and will have the mode of the original
file except that setuid and execute bits are not retained.
Uudecode ignores any leading and trailing lines.

Reference file = rgb.gif

Uuencode

Uuencode syntax: uuencode file_to_be_encoded encoded_file > output_file

NOTE: The file_to_be_encoded and the encoded_file can be the same name.

EXAMPLE:

uuencode   rgb.gif rgb.gif  >  rgbfxr

UUdecode

Uudecode syntax: uudecode output_file

NOTE: This created a file with the name in the output_file.

You can view the encoded file name by issuing the command head outputfile

EXAMPLE:

uudecode output_file

Note: The file rgb.gif will be decoded.

Application

You want to encode a binary file and attach it to an E-Mail for an individual who does not have a MIME mail client.

You can encode the file and the recipent can decode the attached file and now have the original binary file.