BASENC(1) User Commands BASENC(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

basenc - Encode/decode data and print to standard output

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**basenc** \[*OPTION*]... \[*FILE*]

# [DESCRIPTION](#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**](#base64)

same as [**base64**(1)](/man/os/coreutils/base64.1) program (RFC4648 section 4)

[**--base64url**](#base64url)

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

[**--base58**](#base58)

visually unambiguous base58 encoding

[**--base32**](#base32)

same as [**base32**(1)](/man/os/coreutils/base32.1) program (RFC4648 section 6)

[**--base32hex**](#base32hex)

extended hex alphabet base32 (RFC4648 section 7)

[**--base16**](#base16)

hex encoding (RFC4648 section 8)

[**--base2msbf**](#base2msbf)

bit string with most significant bit (msb) first

[**--base2lsbf**](#base2lsbf)

bit string with least significant bit (lsb) first

[**-d, --decode**](#d,)

decode data

[**-i, --ignore-garbage**](#i,)

when decoding, ignore non-alphabet characters

[**-w, --wrap=COLS**](#w,)

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

[**--z85**](#z85)

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

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**--version**](#version)

output version information and exit

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

# [ENCODING EXAMPLES](#ENCODING_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](#AUTHOR)

Written by Simon Josefsson and Assaf Gordon.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.  
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.  
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2026 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](#SEE_ALSO)

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

October 2026 GNU coreutils 9.12

---

Document: basenc(1) from coreutils 9.12-r7 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/coreutils.git