.TH UUENCODE 1
.SH NAME
uuencode, uudecode \- encode/decode a binary file for
transmission via mail
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B uuencode
[
.I file
]
.I remotedest
.br
.B uudecode
[
.I file 
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
These routines are useful for sending binary files by
.IR mail (1).
.PP
.I Uuencode
places on the standard output an encoded version of the named
.I file
(standard input by default).
The encoding, which uses only printing ASCII characters,
includes the mode of the file and a name 
.I remotedest
into which it will be decoded.
.PP
.I Uudecode
reads encoded data from a
.I file
or from the standard input and recreates the
original data with the mode and name given in the file.
As the encoded file is ordinary text, the name or
mode can be changed by editing.
.PP
An encoded file contains noise lines, a header line, data,
trailer, and more noise in that order.
The header contains
.LR begin ,
the octal mode, and the remote name separated by spaces.
Each data line contains a count in the range 0-63, encoded
as a single byte with value offset by 040 (space), followed
by the encoding of that many bytes of source.
24-bit (3-byte) segments of source are
coded in 4 6-bit pieces, again represented in
offset-040 code.
The trailer is a data line with count 0 and then
the line
.LR end .
.B SEE ALSO
.IR uucp (1),
.IR mail (1)
.SH BUGS
The interface is meretricious.
The remote name should be decided by
the recipient, not the sender.
The command
.L uuencode myfile
does not encode
.L myfile ,
but rather reads from standard input.