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(python2.1-lib.info)uu

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Encode and decode uuencode files
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Encode and decode files in uuencode format.  This module was written by
Lance Ellinghouse <>.
This module encodes and decodes files in uuencode format, allowing
arbitrary binary data to be transferred over ascii-only connections.
Wherever a file argument is expected, the methods accept a file-like
object.  For backwards compatibility, a string containing a pathname is
also accepted, and the corresponding file will be opened for reading
and writing; the pathname `'-'' is understood to mean the standard
input or output.  However, this interface is deprecated; it's better
for the caller to open the file itself, and be sure that, when
required, the mode is `'rb'' or `'wb'' on Windows or DOS.

This code was contributed by Lance Ellinghouse, and modified by Jack
Jansen.

The `uu' module defines the following functions:

`encode(in_file, out_file[, name[, mode]])'
     Uuencode file IN_FILE into file OUT_FILE.  The uuencoded file will
     have the header specifying NAME and MODE as the defaults for the
     results of decoding the file. The default defaults are taken from
     IN_FILE, or `'-'' and `0666' respectively.

`decode(in_file[, out_file[, mode]])'
     This call decodes uuencoded file IN_FILE placing the result on
     file OUT_FILE. If OUT_FILE is a pathname, MODE is used to set the
     permission bits if the file must be created. Defaults for OUT_FILE
     and MODE are taken from the uuencode header.

See also:
     Note: binascii Support module containing ASCII-to-binary and
     binary-to-ASCII conversions.