File: coreutils.info, Node: base64 invocation, Next: basenc invocation, Prev: base32 invocation, Up: Output of entire files 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 (https://tools.ietf.org/search/rfc4648). For more general encoding functionality see *note basenc invocation::. The program accepts the following options. Also see *note 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.