.\" nroff
.TH bincode 1 "9 January 2009" "Straylight/Edgeware" "mLib utilities library"
.SH NAME
bincode \- binary-to-text encoding and decoding
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B bincode
.RB [ \-de]
.RB [ \-f
.IR flags ]
.RB [ \-i
.IR indent ]
.RB [ \-m
.IR maxline ]
.RB [ \-o
.IR output ]
.RI [ file ...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B bincode
program encodes binary data as plain text (suitable, for example, for
use in email), and recovers binary data from its encoding.
.PP
The options are as follows.
.TP
.B "\-h, \-\-help"
Print a help message to standard output and exit successfully.
.TP
.B "\-v, \-\-version"
Print the program's version number to standard output and exit
successfully.
.TP
.B "\-u, \-\-usage"
Print a one-line usage summary to standard output and exit successfully.
.TP
.BI "\-d, \-\-decode"
Read encoded data and write the result of decoding it.
.TP
.BI "\-e, \-\-encode"
Read raw binary data and write the result of encoding.
.TP
.BI "\-f, \-\-flags=" flags
Set encoding/decoding flags.  The
.I flags
are a list of comma-separated flag names, each preceded by an optional
.RB ` + '
to set the flag (the default) or
.RB ` \- '
to clear it.  The flag names are as listed in
.BR codec (3),
but in lower case, and without the
.RB ` CDCF_ '
prefix; e.g.,
.B CDCF_IGNNEWL
may be specified as
.RB ` ignnewl '.
This option may be repeated: the options are scanned left-to-right.  The
only flag set by default is
.RB ` ignnewl '.
.TP
.BI "\-i, \-\-indent=" indent
Insert the
.I indent
string before each line.  The string may contain simple
backslash-escapes:
.RB ` \ea ',
.RB ` \eb ',
.RB ` \ef ',
.RB ` \en ',
.RB ` \er ',
.RB ` \et ', and
.RB ` \ev '
respectively stand for alert, backspace, form-feed, newline, carriage
return, and horizontal and vertical tab.  A backslash preceding any
other character yields that character; hence, to include a backslash,
write a double backslash.  The default is the empty string: i.e., just
end each line with a newline character.
.TP
.BI "\-m, \-\-maxline=" maxline
Set the maximum output line length to
.I maxline
when encoding.  The limit is ignored when decoding.  If
.I maxline
is zero, then no line splitting is performed.
.TP
.BI "\-o, \-\-output=" output
Write the (encoded or decoded) output to
.IR output .
The default is to write to standard output.  On platforms where it makes
a difference, the output file is opened in text mode when encoding, and
in binary mode when decoding.
.PP
The input to be encoded or decoded is the concatenation of the specified
.IR file s.
If no files are listed, then standard input is read.  A
.I file
which is a single
.RB ` \- '
also means to read standard input.  On systems where it makes a
difference, named files are read in binary mode when encoding and in
text mode when decoding.
.PP
If an error is encountered, the output may be partially written.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR codec (3).
.SH "AUTHOR"
Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>