Uuencode

uuencode command uses syntax...

uuencode origfile finalfile > encodedfile

"origfile" is name of your binary file

"finalfile" is name that you want file to have when it is eventually decoded (usually same as origfile in which case it can be and is usually omitted)

"encodedfile" is name you want to give uuencoded version of binary as it will appear in your directory

Examples:

To convert binary file named "custs.doc" into uuencoded (text) file named "custs.uue", you would enter ...

uuencode custs.doc > custs.uue

To convert binary file named "firstbutton.gif" into uuencoded (text) file named "button", and if you want the decoded version to be named "button.gif" you would enter ...

uuencode firstbutton.gif button.gif > button

Purpose of uuencode program is to translate binary file that contains un-printable (and thus un-mailable) non-text characters into format that is entirely readable

Text file it produces may be mailed as an ordinary mail message and later uudecoded into its original binary form by recipient

Note that uuencoded file is generally about 20% larger than original binary file

If you receive uuencoded file as mail message, you must copy it to file

Then, edit file, removing mail header, any signatures, or other extraneous information in text

After you have clean uuencoded file (e.g., filename.uu), enter...

uudecode filename.uu

This will reconstruct file that was originally encoded

Note that after running uudecode command, you will have two files: original unchanged uuencoded file, and new decoded file

Decoded file will have name that was specified at beginning of uuencoded file

When you are sure that the decoded file "works", delete the uuencoded file (to save space)