3.6 base64: Transform data into printable data

base64 transforms data read from a file, or standard input, into (or from) base64 encoded form. The base64 encoded form uses printable ASCII characters to represent binary data. Synopses:

base64 [option]… [file]
base64 --decode [option]… [file]

The base64 encoding expands data to roughly 133% of the original. The base32 encoding expands data to roughly 160% of the original. The format conforms to RFC 4648.

For more general encoding functionality see basenc: Transform data into printable data.

The program accepts the following options. Also see Common options.

‘-w cols’ ¶

‘--wrap=cols’

During encoding, wrap lines after cols characters. This must be a positive number.

The default is to wrap after 76 characters. Use the value 0 to disable line wrapping altogether.

‘-d’ ¶

‘--decode’

Change the mode of operation, from the default of encoding data, to decoding data. Input is expected to be base64 encoded data, and the output will be the original data.

‘-i’ ¶

‘--ignore-garbage’

When decoding, newlines are always accepted. During decoding, ignore unrecognized bytes, to permit distorted data to be decoded.

An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value indicates failure.