uuencode, uudecode - encode/decode a binary file
uuencode [file] name
uudecode [file ...]
The uuencode(1) and uudecode(1) utilities are used to transmit binary files over transmission media that do not support other than simple data.
The uuencode(1) utility reads file (or by default the standard input) and writes an encoded version to the standard output. The name operand specifies the name of the file when decoded (by uudecode(1)). The encoding uses only printing characters and includes the mode of the file and the operand name for use by uudecode(1).
The uudecode(1) utility transforms uuencoded files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form. The resulting file is named name and will have the mode of the original file except that setuid and execute bits are not retained. The uudecode(1) utility ignores any leading and trailing lines.
The uuencode(1) and uudecode(1) utilities are often used for mailing binaries. In the mail-reading mode of mailx(1) , you can decode the current message with the command
| uudecode
To encode the file samples.zip and store in sample.zip.uue:
$ uuencode samples.zip samples.zip > samples.zip.uue
To encode the output of xwd(1) and mail to user chris:
$ xwd | uuencode screenshot.xwd | mailx chris
To decode the file samples.zip.uue:
$ uudecode samples.zip.uue
gzip(1)