Base64

The Base64 module provides for the encoding (#encode64, #strict_encode64, #urlsafe_encode64) and decoding (#decode64, #strict_decode64, #urlsafe_decode64) of binary data using a Base64 representation.

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'base64'

And then execute:

$ bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install base64

A simple encoding and decoding.

require "base64"

enc   = Base64.encode64('Send reinforcements')
                    # -> "U2VuZCByZWluZm9yY2VtZW50cw==\n"
plain = Base64.decode64(enc)
                    # -> "Send reinforcements"

The purpose of using base64 to encode data is that it translates any binary data into purely printable characters.

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake test to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/ruby/base64.