Re: base64 terminal input failure

[Davide Brini]

On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:38:07 +0100
e-letter <address@hidden> wrote:

> On 17/06/2011, Bob Proulx <address@hidden> wrote:
> > e-letter wrote:
> >> I have tried to copy base64 encoded text from the clipboard (i.e. a
> >> web mail message) to the command terminal:
> >>
> >> base64 -d 'xyz'
> >>
> >> where 'xyz' is the base64 text. According to the manual, standard
> >> input can be accepted if a file is not accepted but instead the
> >> terminal response is:
> >>
> >> base64: xyz: No such file or directory
> >>
> >> What is my mistake please?
> >
> > The base64 syntax is:
> >
> >   base64 [OPTION]... [FILE]
> >
> > You have specified one option and what appears to the command to be
> > one file.  The -d fits in the [OPTION] spot and the xyz fits in the
> > [FILE] spot.
> >
> > The brackets indicate that those parts are optional.  For [OPTIONS] no
> > options means to encode.  Specifying -d means to decode.
> >
> > For [FILE] this means that if a file is specified then the command
> > will open the file and read it.  If no file is specified on the
> > command line then it will read standard input.
> >
> >> The command:
> >> 'echo xyz | base64 -d'
> >>
> >> returns:
> >> �,base64: invalid input
> >>
> >> If the base64 text is saved as a file, conversion is successful.
> >
> > This is because "xyz" isn't valid base64 encoded data.  It works
> > successfully if you give it valid input data instead of random
> > characters.  See this example:
> >
> 
> I wrote 'xyz' not as literal, verbatim encoded text but as an example.
> Repeating this as follows causes the same error:
> 
> ...@localhost ~]$ base64 -d Zm9vCg==
> base64: Zm9vCg==: No such file or directory

Which part of

base64 [OPTION]... [FILE]

is not clear?

-- 
D.