UUENCODE(5) BSD File Formats Manual UUENCODE(5)NAMEuuencode — format of an encoded uuencode file
DESCRIPTION
Files output by uuencode(1) consist of a header line, followed by a num‐
ber 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 num‐
ber of bytes the rest of the line represents. Such integers are always
in the range from 1 to 45 or 64 and can be determined by subtracting the
character space (octal 40) from the character. Character 64 represents a
count of zero.
Groups of 3 bytes are stored in 4 characters, 6 bits per character. All
characters are always in range from 1 to 64 and are offset by a space
(octal 40) to make the characters printing. Character 64 represents a
count of zero. 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 null characters will be
included to make the character count a multiple of 4. The body is termi‐
nated by a line with a count of zero. This line consists of one ASCII
backquote (octal 140) character.
The trailer line consists of “end” on a line by itself.
SEE ALSOmail(1), uucp(1), uudecode(1), uuencode(1)HISTORY
The uuencode file format appeared in 4.0BSD.
BSD January 12, 1994 BSD
