{"id":355,"date":"2010-01-06T16:55:14","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T16:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fir3netwp.gmsrrpobkbd.com\/2010\/01\/06\/how-to-encode-decode-a-file\/"},"modified":"2023-01-15T22:45:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T22:45:31","slug":"how-to-encode-decode-a-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fir3net.com\/UNIX\/Linux\/how-to-encode-decode-a-file.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Encode \/ Decode a File"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is encoding \/ decoding ?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Encoding refers to the process of translating a file into an ASCII based string.
\nDecoding refers to the process of decoding the ASCII based string.<\/p>\n

In order to perform this decoding\/encoding process Base64 is typically used. Base64 is a program that\u00a0 converts each 6 bits and then converts this to an ASCII based character out of a 64 ASCII character set. (this includes the characters of azAZ09+\/.<\/p>\n

Why would I want to do this ?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is useful for situations were you need to transfer binary files across systems that have no network connectivity. Other applications were this is used is with SMTP<\/a> which being a completely ASCII based protocol uses encoding to send any binary or not ASCII based data to the recipient.<\/p>\n

Example<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Below we will be encoding and decoding a floppy disc image.<\/p>\n

1. On the first machine we will be encoding the file into an ASCII based string.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Note : we use the file command to confirm the file type.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

[root@host1 tmp]# file vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp\r\nvmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp: DOS floppy 1440k, x86 hard disk boot sector\r\n[root@host1 tmp]# base64 vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp > vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded\r\n[root@host1 tmp]# head -n3 vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded\r\n6zyQTVNET1M1LjAAAgEBAALgAEAL8AkAEgACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAApUpcW7E5PIE5BTUUgICAgRkFU\r\nMTIgICAzyY7RvPB7jtm4ACCOwPy9AHw4TiR9JIvBmeg8AXIcg+s6ZqEcfCZmOwcmilf8dQaAygKI\r\nVgKAwxBz6zPJikYQmPdmFgNGHBNWHgNGDhPRi3YRYIlG\/IlW\/rggAPfmi14LA8NI9\r\n[root@host1 tmp]# file vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded\r\nvmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded: ASCII text<\/pre>\n
2. Once we have copy and pasted the ASCII text to the other machine (into the file vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded) we decode the file back into its original floppy image format.<\/p>\n
[root@host2 tmp]# cat vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.encoded | base64 -di > vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.decoded\r\n[root@host2 tmp]# file\u00a0 vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.decoded\r\nvmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.decoded: DOS floppy 1440k, x86 hard disk boot sector<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is encoding \/ decoding ? Encoding refers to the process of translating a file into an ASCII based string. Decoding refers to the process of decoding the ASCII based string. In order to perform this decoding\/encoding process Base64 is typically used. Base64 is a program that\u00a0 converts each 6 bits and then converts this … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Encode \/ Decode a File - Fir3net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is encoding \/ decoding ? Encoding refers to the process of translating a file into an ASCII based string. 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