uuencode(1) User Commands uuencode(1)
NAME
uuencode - encode a file into email friendly text
SYNOPSIS
uuencode [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]] [<in-
file>] <output-name>
DESCRIPTION
uuencode is used to create an ASCII representation of a file that can
be sent over channels that may otherwise corrupt the data. Specifi-
cally, email cannot handle binary data and will often even insert a
character when the six character sequence "0rom " is seen.
uuencode will read in-file if provided and otherwise read data from
standard in and write the encoded form to standard out. The output
will begin with a header line for use by uudecode giving it the result-
ing suggested file output-name and access mode. If the output-name is
specifically /dev/stdout, then uudecode will emit the decoded file to
standard out.
Note: uuencode uses buffered input and assumes that it is not hand
typed from a tty. The consequence is that at a tty, you may need to
hit Ctl-D several times to terminate input.
OPTIONS
-m, --base64
convert using base64.
By default, uuencode will encode using the traditional conver-
sion. It is slower and less compact than base64. The encoded
form of the file is expanded by 37% for UU encoding and by 35%
for base64 encoding (3 bytes become 4 plus control information).
-e, --encode-file-name
encode the output file name.
Since output file names may contain characters that are not han-
dled well by various transmission modes, you may specify that
the output-name be base64 encoded as well. (Traditional uuen-
coding of the file name is not supported.)
-h, --help
Display usage information and exit.
-!, --more-help
Pass the extended usage information through a pager.
-R [cfgfile], --save-opts [=cfgfile]
Save the option state to cfgfile. The default is the last con-
figuration file listed in the OPTION PRESETS section, below.
The command will exit after updating the config file.
-r cfgfile, --load-opts=cfgfile, --no-load-opts
Load options from cfgfile. The no-load-opts form will disable
the loading of earlier config/rc/ini files. --no-load-opts is
handled early, out of order.
-v [{v|c|n --version [{v|c|n}]}]
Output version of program and exit. The default mode is `v', a
simple version. The `c' mode will print copyright information
and `n' will print the full copyright notice.
OPTION PRESETS
Any option that is not marked as not presettable may be preset by load-
ing values from configuration ("RC" or ".INI") file(s). The file
"$HOME/.sharrc" will be used, if present.
STANDARDS
This implementation is compliant with P1003.2b/D11.
FILES
See OPTION PRESETS for configuration files.
EXIT STATUS
One of the following exit values will be returned:
0 (EXIT_SUCCESS)
Successful program execution.
1 (EXIT_FAILURE)
The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid.
66 (EX_NOINPUT)
A specified configuration file could not be loaded.
70 (EX_SOFTWARE)
libopts had an internal operational error. Please report it to
autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net. Thank you.
SEE ALSO
uudecode(1), uuencode(5)
HISTORY
The uuencode command first appeared in BSD 4.0.
AUTHORS
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1994-2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. all rights re-
served. This program is released under the terms of the GNU General
Public License, version 3 or later.
BUGS
Please put sharutils in the subject line for emailed bug reports. It
helps to spot the message.
Please send bug reports to: bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org
NOTES
This manual page was AutoGen-erated from the uuencode option defini-
tions.
GNU sharutils (4.15.2) 30 May 2015 uuencode(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.14 on Wed Jan 22 15:15:24 CET 2025.