base64

base64
 















Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that encodes binary data (such as images, files, or other non-text data) into an ASCII string format. This is often used to embed binary data into text files, such as in email attachments or HTML/XML documents.





Base64 encoding is useful for transmitting data in environments that only support text, while decoding is used to convert Base64-encoded data back to its original binary format.





Common Base64 Options





    

  • --encode: Encode the input data into Base64 format.
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  • --decode: Decode a Base64-encoded string back to its original data.
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  • -w <width>: Wrap the Base64 output at a specified number of characters per line (useful for long encoded strings). Default is no wrapping.
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  • -i <file>: Specify an input file for encoding or decoding.
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  • -o <file>: Specify an output file for decoding the Base64 data.
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  • -d: Decode from Base64 format. This is the default if using base64 on the command line.
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  • -b <base64_encoding_file>: Allows you to encode or decode from a file.
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Examples of Base64 Commands





Encoding Examples





    

  1. Encode the text “Hello, World!” into Base64:
    > echo -n "Hello, World!" | base64 
    Output: SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==
    2. 




  2. Encode a file named image.jpg into Base64:
    > base64 -i image.jpg
    3. 




  3. Encode a string with line breaks after every 76 characters:
    > echo -n "This is a long string that will be encoded in Base64." | base64 -w 76
    4. 






Decoding Examples





    

  1. Decode the Base64 string SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ== back to its original text:
    > echo "SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==" | base64 --decode 
    Output: Hello, World!
    2. 




  2. Decode a Base64-encoded file encoded.txt back to its original format:
    > base64 --decode -i encoded.txt -o decoded_image.jpg
    3. 




  3. Decode a Base64 string with special characters:
    > echo "U29tZSBleGFtcGxlIHRleHQ=" | base64 --decode 
    Output: Some example text
    4.