282 UTL_ENCODE
The UTL_ENCODE
package provides functions that encode RAW
data into a standard encoded format so that the data can be transported between hosts.
You can use UTL_ENCODE
functions to encode the body of email text. The package also contains the decode counterpart functions of the encode functions. The functions follow published standards for encoding to accommodate non-Oracle utilities on the sending or receiving ends.
This chapter contains the following topic:
282.1 Summary of UTL_ENCODE Subprograms
This table lists the UTL_ENCODE
subprograms and briefly describes them.
Table 282-1 UTL_ENCODE Package Subprograms
Subprogram | Description |
---|---|
Reads the base 64-encoded |
|
Encodes the binary representation of the |
|
Decodes a string from mime header format |
|
Encodes a string into mime header format |
|
Reads the |
|
Reads the |
|
Decodes a character set sensitive text string |
|
Encodes a character set sensitive text string |
|
Reads the |
|
Reads the |
282.1.1 BASE64_DECODE Function
This function reads the base 64-encoded RAW
input string and decodes it to its original RAW
value.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_DECODE ( r IN RAW) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(base64_decode, WNDS, RNDS, WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-2 BASE64_DECODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The RAW string containing base 64-encoded data. There are no defaults or optional parameters. |
Return Values
Table 282-3 BASE64_DECODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
Contains the decoded string |
282.1.2 BASE64_ENCODE Function
This function encodes the binary representation of the RAW
value into base 64 elements and returns it in the form of a RAW
string.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_ENCODE ( r IN RAW) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(base64_encode, WNDS, RNDS, WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-4 BASE64_ENCODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The RAW value to be encoded. There are no defaults or optional parameters. |
Return Values
Table 282-5 BASE64_ENCODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
Contains the encoded base 64 elements |
282.1.3 MIMEHEADER_DECODE Function
This function accepts as input an "encoded word.”
It uses the form:
=?<charset>?<encoding>?<encoded text>?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Here is some encoded text?=
The <encoded text>
is encapsulated in mime header tags which give the MIMEHEADER_DECODE
function information about how to decode the string. The mime header metadata tags are stripped from the input string and the <encoded text>
is converted to the base database character set as follows:
-
If this is a UTF16 platform, convert the encoded text from UTF16 to ASCII
-
If this is an EBCDIC platform, convert the encoded text from EBCDIC to ASCII
-
If this is an ASCII or UTF8 platform, no conversion needed
The string is decoded using either quoted-printable or base64 decoding, as specified by the <encoding>
metadata tag in the encoded word. The resulting converted and decoded text is returned to the caller as a VARCHAR2
string.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.MIMEHEADER_DECODE ( buf IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS) RETURN data VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET buf%CHARSET;
Parameters
Table 282-6 MIMEHEADER_DECODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The encoded text data with mime header format tags. |
Return Values
Table 282-7 MIMEHEADER_DECODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
The encoded text data with mime header format tags |
Examples
v2:=utl_encode.mimeheader_decode('=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Here is some encoded text?=');
282.1.4 MIMEHEADER_ENCODE Function
This function returns as an output an "encoded word".
The output is in the following form:
=?<charset>?<encoding>?<encoded text>?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Here is some text?=
The buf
input parameter is the text to be encoded and becomes the <encoded text>
.
The <encoding> value is either "Q" or "B" for quoted-printable encode or base64 encoding respectively. The ENCODING input parameter accepts as valid values UTL_ENCODE.QUOTED_PRINTABLE
or UTL_ENCODE.BASE64
or NULL
. If NULL
, quoted-printable encoding is selected as a default value.
The <charset>
value is specified as the input parameter encode_charset
. If NULL
, the database character set is selected as a default value.
The mimeheader encoding process includes conversion of the buf
input string to the character set specified by the encode_charset
parameter. The converted string is encoded to either quoted-printable or base64 encoded format. The mime header tags are appended and prepended.
Finally, the string is converted to the base character set of the database:
-
If this is a UTF16 platform, convert the encoded text to UTF16
-
If this is an EBCDIC platform, convert the encoded text to EBCDIC
-
If this is an ASCII or UTF8 platform, no conversion needed.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.MIMEHEADER_ENCODE ( buf IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, encode_charset IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, encoding IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL) RETURN string VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET buf%CHARSET;
Parameters
Table 282-8 MIMEHEADER_ENCODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The text data. |
|
The target character set. |
|
The encoding format. Valid values are |
Return Values
Table 282-9 MIMEHEADER_ENCODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
A |
282.1.5 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_DECODE Function
This function reads the varchar2
quoted printable format input string and decodes it to the corresponding RAW
string.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.QUOTED_PRINTABLE_DECODE ( r IN RAW) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(quoted_printable_decode, WNDS, RNDS, WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-10 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_DECODE Function Parameters
Parameters | Description |
---|---|
|
The RAW string containing a quoted printable data string. There are no defaults or optional parameters. |
Return Values
Table 282-11 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_DECODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
The decoded string |
282.1.6 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_ENCODE Function
This function reads the RAW
input string and encodes it to the corresponding quoted printable format string.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.QUOTED_PRINTABLE_ENCODE ( r IN RAW) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(quoted_printable_encode, WNDS, RNDS,WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-12 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_ENCODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The RAW string. There are no defaults or optional parameters. |
Return Values
Table 282-13 QUOTED_PRINTABLE_ENCODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
Contains the quoted printable string |
282.1.7 TEXT_DECODE Function
This function converts the input text to the target character set as specified by the encode_charset
parameter, if not NULL
.
The encoded text is converted to the base character set of database, as follows:
-
If this is a UTF16 platform, convert the encoded text from UTF16 to ASCII
-
If this is an EBCDIC platform, convert the encoded text from EBCDIC to ASCII
-
If this is an ASCII or UTF8 platform, no conversion needed
You can decode from either quoted-printable or base64 format, with regard to each encoding
parameter. If NULL
, quoted-printable is selected as a default decoding format. If encode_charset
is not NULL
, you convert the string from the specified character set to the database character set. The resulting decoded and converted text string is returned to the caller.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.TEXT_DECODE( buf IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, encode_charset IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, encoding IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL) RETURN string VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET buf%CHARSET;
Parameters
Table 282-14 TEXT_DECODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The encoded text data. |
|
The source character set. |
|
The encoding format. Valid values are |
Return Values
Table 282-15 TEXT_DECODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
A |
Examples
v2:=UTL_ENCODE.TEXT_DECODE( 'Here is some text', WE8ISO8859P1, UTL_ENCODE.BASE64);
282.1.8 TEXT_ENCODE Function
This function converts the input text to the target character set as specified by the encode_charset
parameter, if not NULL
.
The text is encoded to either base64 or quoted-printable format, as specified by the encoding
parameter. Quoted-printable is selected as a default if ENCODING is NULL.
The encoded text is converted to the base character set of the database:
-
If this is a UTF16 platform, convert the encoded text to UTF16
-
If this is an EBCDIC platform, convert the encoded text to EBCDIC
-
If this is an ASCII or UTF8 platform, no conversion needed
The resulting encoded and converted text string is returned to the caller.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.TEXT_ENCODE ( buf IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS, encode_charset IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, encoding IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL) RETURN string VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET buf%CHARSET;
Parameters
Table 282-16 TEXT_ENCODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The text data. |
|
The target character set. |
|
The encoding format. Valid values are |
Return Values
Table 282-17 TEXT_ENCODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
A |
Examples
v2:=utl_encode.text_encode( 'Here is some text', 'WE8ISO8859P1', UTL_ENCODE.BASE64);
282.1.9 UUDECODE Function
This function reads the RAW
uuencode format input string and decodes it to the corresponding RAW
string.
See "UUENCODE Function" for discussion of the cumulative nature of UUENCODE
and UUDECODE
for data streams.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.UUDECODE ( r IN RAW) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(uudecode, WNDS, RNDS, WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-18 UUDECODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
The RAW string containing the uuencoded data string. There are no defaults or optional parameters. |
Return Values
Table 282-19 UUDECODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
The decoded |
282.1.10 UUENCODE Function
This function reads the RAW
input string and encodes it to the corresponding uuencode format string.
The output of this function is cumulative, in that it can be used to encode large data streams, by splitting the data stream into acceptably sized RAW
values, encoded, and concatenated into a single encoded string.
Syntax
UTL_ENCODE.UUENCODE ( r IN RAW, type IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT 1, filename IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, permission IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL) RETURN RAW;
Pragmas
pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES(uuencode, WNDS, RNDS, WNPS, RNPS);
Parameters
Table 282-20 UUENCODE Function Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
|
|
|
Optional number parameter containing the type of uuencoded output. Options: complete—a defined PL/SQL constant with a value of |
|
Optional |
|
Optional |
Return Values
Table 282-21 UUENCODE Function Return Values
Return | Description |
---|---|
|
Contains the uuencode format string |