# phpman > man > basenc(1)

> **TLDR:** Encode or decode file or `stdin` using a specified encoding, to `stdout`.
>
- Encode a file with base64 encoding:
  `basenc --base64 {{path/to/file}}`
- Decode a file with base64 encoding:
  `basenc {{-d|--decode}} --base64 {{path/to/file}}`
- Encode from `stdin` with base32 encoding with 42 columns:
  `{{command}} | basenc --base32 {{-w|--wrap}} 42`
- Encode from `stdin` with base32 encoding:
  `{{command}} | basenc --base32`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[BASENC(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/BASENC/1/markdown)                                   User Commands                                  [BASENC(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/BASENC/1/markdown)



## NAME
       basenc - Encode/decode data and print to standard output

## SYNOPSIS
       **basenc** [_OPTION_]... [_FILE_]

## DESCRIPTION
       basenc encode or decode FILE, or standard input, to standard output.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

### --base64
              same as 'base64' program (RFC4648 section 4)

### --base64url
              file- and url-safe base64 (RFC4648 section 5)

### --base32
              same as 'base32' program (RFC4648 section 6)

### --base32hex
              extended hex alphabet base32 (RFC4648 section 7)

### --base16
              hex encoding (RFC4648 section 8)

### --base2msbf
              bit string with most significant bit (msb) first

### --base2lsbf
              bit string with least significant bit (lsb) first

### -d --decode
              decode data

### -i --ignore-garbage
              when decoding, ignore non-alphabet characters

### -w --wrap
              wrap encoded lines after COLS character (default 76).  Use 0 to disable line wrapping

       **--z85**  ascii85-like encoding (ZeroMQ spec:32/Z85); when encoding, input length must be a mul‐
              tiple of 4; when decoding, input length must be a multiple of 5

       **--help** display this help and exit

### --version
              output version information and exit

       When decoding, the input may contain newlines in addition to the bytes of the  formal  alpha‐
       bet.  Use **--ignore-garbage** to attempt to recover from any other non-alphabet bytes in the en‐
       coded stream.

## ENCODINGS EXAMPLES
              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base64
              /k+C

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base64url
              _k-C

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base32
              7ZHYE===

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base32hex
              VP7O4===

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base16
              FE4F82

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base2lsbf
              011111111111001001000001

              $ printf '\376\117\202' | basenc --base2msbf
              111111100100111110000010

              $ printf '\376\117\202\000' | basenc --z85
              @.FaC

## AUTHOR
       Written by Simon Josefsson and Assaf Gordon.

## REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>>
       Report any translation bugs to <<https://translationproject.org/team/>>

## COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3  or  later
       <<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>>.
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to
       the extent permitted by law.

## SEE ALSO
       Full documentation <<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/basenc>>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) basenc invocation'



GNU coreutils 8.32                          January 2026                                   [BASENC(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/BASENC/1/markdown)