Module | Base64
In: | base64.rb

The Base64 module provides for the encoding (encode64) and decoding (decode64) of binary data using a Base64 representation.

The following particular features are also provided:

- encode into lines of a given length (b64encode)
- decode the special format specified in RFC2047 for the representation of email headers (decode_b)

## Example

A simple encoding and decoding.

        require "base64"

        enc   = Base64.encode64('Send reinforcements')
                            # -> "U2VuZCByZWluZm9yY2VtZW50cw==\n"
        plain = Base64.decode64(enc)
                            # -> "Send reinforcements"

The purpose of using base64 to encode data is that it translates any binary data into purely printable characters. It is specified in RFC 2045 (www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2045.html).

### Methods

b64encode decode64 decode_b encode64

### Public Instance methods

b64encode(bin, len = 60)

Prints the Base64 encoded version of `bin` (a `String`) in lines of `len` (default 60) characters.

       require 'base64'
       data = "Now is the time for all good coders\nto learn Ruby"
       puts Base64.b64encode(data)

Generates:

       Tm93IGlzIHRoZSB0aW1lIGZvciBhbGwgZ29vZCBjb2RlcnMKdG8gbGVhcm4g
       UnVieQ==

[Source]

    # File base64.rb, line 112
      def b64encode(bin, len = 60)
        encode64(bin).scan(/.{1,#{len}}/o) do
          print $&, "\n"
        end
      end

decode64(str)

Returns the Base64-decoded version of `str`.

      require 'base64'
      str = 'VGhpcyBpcyBsaW5lIG9uZQpUaGlzIG' +
            'lzIGxpbmUgdHdvClRoaXMgaXMgbGlu' +
            'ZSB0aHJlZQpBbmQgc28gb24uLi4K'
      puts Base64.decode64(str)

Generates:

       This is line one
       This is line two
       This is line three
       And so on...

[Source]

    # File base64.rb, line 58
      def decode64(str)
        str.unpack("m")[0]
      end

decode_b(str)

Decodes text formatted using a subset of RFC2047 (the one used for mime-encoding mail headers).

Only supports an encoding type of ‘b’ (base 64), and only supports the character sets ISO-2022-JP and SHIFT_JIS (so the only two encoded word sequences recognized are `=?ISO-2022-JP?B?…=` and `=?SHIFT_JIS?B?…=`). Recognition of these sequences is case insensitive.

[Source]

    # File base64.rb, line 72
      def decode_b(str)
        str.gsub!(/=\?ISO-2022-JP\?B\?([!->@-~]+)\?=/i) {
          decode64($1)
        }
        str = Kconv::toeuc(str)
        str.gsub!(/=\?SHIFT_JIS\?B\?([!->@-~]+)\?=/i) {
          decode64($1)
        }
        str = Kconv::toeuc(str)
        str.gsub!(/\n/, ' ')
        str.gsub!(/\0/, '')
        str
      end

encode64(bin)

Returns the Base64-encoded version of `str`.

       require 'base64'
       Base64.b64encode("Now is the time for all good coders\nto learn Ruby")

Generates:

       Tm93IGlzIHRoZSB0aW1lIGZvciBhbGwgZ29vZCBjb2RlcnMKdG8gbGVhcm4g
       UnVieQ==

[Source]

    # File base64.rb, line 96
      def encode64(bin)
        [bin].pack("m")
      end

[Validate]