basenc
Encode and decode with multiple base encodings.
TLDR
Encode with base64
$ basenc --base64 [file]
Encode with base32$ basenc --base32 [file]
Decode base64$ basenc --base64 -d [file.b64]
Use base16 (hex)$ basenc --base16 [file]
Use base2 (binary)$ basenc --base2 [file]
SYNOPSIS
basenc encoding [options] [file]
DESCRIPTION
basenc is a unified encoding/decoding tool supporting multiple base encodings including base64, base32, base16 (hex), base2 (binary), z85, and others. It consolidates functionality previously split across multiple tools.The tool is part of GNU coreutils and provides a single interface for various encoding schemes.
PARAMETERS
--base64
Base64 encoding--base64url
Base64 URL-safe encoding--base32
Base32 encoding--base32hex
Base32 with extended hex alphabet--base58
Base58 encoding (avoids visually similar characters; useful for transcription)--base16
Base16 (hexadecimal)--base2lsbf
Base2 (binary) least significant bit first--base2msbf
Base2 (binary) most significant bit first--z85
Z85 encoding (ZeroMQ)-d, --decode
Decode data-w, --wrap=cols
Wrap encoded lines after cols characters (default: 76, 0 = no wrap)-i, --ignore-garbage
Ignore non-alphabet characters
WORKFLOW
$ # Base64 encode
basenc --base64 file.bin
# Base32 decode
basenc --base32 -d file.b32
# Hexadecimal
basenc --base16 file.bin
# Binary representation
echo "A" | basenc --base2msbf
basenc --base64 file.bin
# Base32 decode
basenc --base32 -d file.b32
# Hexadecimal
basenc --base16 file.bin
# Binary representation
echo "A" | basenc --base2msbf
INSTALL
sudo apt install coreutils
sudo dnf install coreutils
sudo pacman -S coreutils
sudo apk add coreutils
sudo zypper install coreutils
brew install coreutils
nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils
CAVEATS
Exactly one encoding option is required. With --z85, encoding input length must be a multiple of 4 bytes and decoding input a multiple of 5. Relatively new tool (not on older systems); fall back to base64/base32 where basenc is unavailable.
HISTORY
basenc was added to GNU coreutils in version 8.31 (2019) to provide a unified interface for multiple encoding schemes.