base64 Command in Linux with Examples

DESCRIPTION

Base64 encode or decode FILE, or standard input, to standard output.

SYNOPSIS

base64 [OPTION] [FILE]

OPTIONS

-w, –wrap=COLS
Wrap encoded lines after COLS character (default 76). Use 0 to disable line wrapping.
-d, –decode
Decode data.
-i, –ignore-garbage
When decoding, ignore non-alphabet characters.

EXAMPLES

1. To encode text to base64, use the following

$ echo 'this is sanfoundry linux tutorial' | base64
dGhpcyBpcyBzYW5mb3VuZHJ5IGxpbnV4IHR1dG9yaWFsCg==

2. To decode, use base64 -d.

$ echo 'dGhpcyBpcyBzYW5mb3VuZHJ5IGxpbnV4IHR1dG9yaWFsCg==' | base64 -d
this is sanfoundry linux tutorial

3. Wrap lines while encoding using -w option

$ echo 'this is sanfoundry linux tutorial' | base64 -w 10
dGhpcyBpcy
BzYW5mb3Vu
ZHJ5IGxpbn
V4IHR1dG9y
aWFsCg==

Here i have wrapped the output to line characters per line.

4. base64 encode and decode a file

$ cat file1.txt
abc
def
ghi
$ base64 file1.txt
YWJjCmRlZgpnaGkK
$ echo 'YWJjCmRlZgpnaGkK' | base64 -d
abc
def
ghi