base64

The base64 command encodes binary strings using the base64 encoding format.

Synopsis

base64 subcommand options

Description

The base64 command encodes binary strings into text representations using the base64 encoding format. Base64 encoding is often used in LDIF files to represent non-ASCII character strings. It is also frequently used to encode certificate contents or the output of message digests such as MD5 or SHA.

Subcommands

The following subcommands are used with the base64 command.

decode

Decodes base64-encoded information into raw data. Suboptions are as follows:

-d, --encodedData encoded-data. Base64-encoded data to be decoded to raw data.

-f, --encodedDataFile filename. Path to the file that contains the base64-encoded data to be decoded.

-o, --toRawFile filename. Path to the file to which the raw data should be written.

encode

Encodes raw data to base64. Suboptions are as follows:

-d, --rawData raw-data. Raw data to be base64–encoded.

-f, --rawDataFile filename. Path to the file that contains the raw data to be base64–encoded.

-o, --toEncodedFile filename. Path to the file to which the base64-encoded data should be written.

Global Options

-?, -H, --help

Display usage information.

-V, --version

Display directory server version information.

Examples

The following examples show how to use the directory server commands. You can use the commands on any UNIX, Linux, or Windows system that has at least the Java SE 5 (at least Sun version 1.5.0_08, preferably the latest version of Java SE 6) runtime environment installed on its target system.

Example 45

Base64 Encoding a String

The following command base64-encodes the string opends.

$ base64 encode -d opends
b3BlbmRz

Example 46

Base64 Encoding the Contents of a File

The following command base64-encodes the file (-f) and writes to an output file (-o).

$ base64 encode -f myrawdata -o myencodeddata

Example 47

Decoding a Base64–Encoded String

The following command decodes a base64–encoded string.

$ base64 decode -d b3BlbmRz
opends

Example 48

Decoding the Contents of a Base64–Encoded File

The following command decodes the file base64–encoded file (-f) and writes to an output file (-o).

$ base64 encode -f myencodeddata -o myoutput

Example 49

Base64–Encoding and Decoding on Linux Systems

The following command encodes and decodes on Linux from the command-line. After you enter the clear-text string, press Control-D to signal the end of input on the command line.

$ base64 encode
hello world
<CTRL-D>
aGVsbGBqd29ybGQK

$ base64 decode
aGVsbG8gd29ybGQK
<CTRL-D>
hello world

Exit Codes

An exit code of 0 indicates that the operation completed successfully. An exit code of 1 indicates that an error occurred during processing.

Location

• UNIX and Linux: install-dir/bin/base64

• Windows: install-dir\bat\base64.bat