uuencode

UUENCODE(5)							  UUENCODE(5)



NAME
       uuencode - format of an encoded uuencode file

DESCRIPTION
       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   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 charac-
       ter count a multiple of 4.  The body is terminated by a	line  with  a
       count of zero.  This line consists of one ASCII space.

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

SEE ALSO
       uuencode(1), uudecode(1), uusend(1), uucp(1), mail(1)

HISTORY
       The uuencode file format appeared in BSD 4.0 .



								  UUENCODE(5)