Delicious Bookmark this on Delicious Share on Facebook SlashdotSlashdot It! Digg! Digg



PHP : Function Reference : URL Functions : base64_encode

base64_encode

Encodes data with MIME base64 (PHP 4, PHP 5)
string base64_encode ( string data )

Example 2564. base64_encode() example

<?php
$str
= 'This is an encoded string';
echo
base64_encode($str);
?>

The above example will output:

VGhpcyBpcyBhbiBlbmNvZGVkIHN0cmluZw==

Code Examples / Notes » base64_encode

guy

You can use base64_encode to transfer image file into string text and then display them. I used this to store my images in a database and display them form there. First I open the files using fread, encoded the result, and stored that result in the database. Useful for creating random images.
image.php:
<?
header(" Content-Type: image/jpeg");
header(" Content-Disposition: inline");
$sql = "SELECT data FROM image where name='".$img."'";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$row = mysql_fetch_row($result);
$image = $row[0];
echo base64_decode($image);
?>
And in the html file you put:
<img src="image.php?img=test3"  border="0" alt="">
Guy Laor


dlyaza

Using Function:
Output for HTML Put:
<img src="$self?image=file" border="0" alt="file">
<img src="$self?image=folder" border="0" alt="folder">
function getimage ($image) {
switch ($image) {
case 'file':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAJEDAJmZmf///wAAAP///yH5BAHoAwMALAAAA
AARAA0AAAItnIGJxg0B42rsiSvCA/REmXQWhmnih3LUSGaqg35vF
bSXucbSabunjnMohq8CADsA');
case 'folder':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAJEDAJmZmf///8zMzP///yH5BAHoAwMALAAAAA
ARAA0AAAIqnI+ZwKwbYgTPtIudlbwLOgCBQJYmCYrn+m3smY5v
Gc+0a7dhjh7ZbygAADsA');
case 'hidden_file':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAJEDAMwAAP///5mZmf///yH5BAHoAwMALAAAA
AARAA0AAAItnIGJxg0B42rsiSvCA/REmXQWhmnih3LUSGaqg35vF
bSXucbSabunjnMohq8CADsA');
case 'link':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAKIEAJmZmf///wAAAMwAAP///wAAAAAAAAAAA
CH5BAHoAwQALAAAAAARAA0AAAM5SArcrDCCQOuLcIotwgTYUll
NOA0DxXkmhY4shM5zsMUKTY8gNgUvW6cnAaZgxMyIM2zBLCaHlJgAADsA');
case 'smiley':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAJECAAAAAP//AP///wAAACH5BAHoAwIALAAAA
AARAA0AAAIslI+pAu2wDAiz0jWD3hqmBzZf1VCleJQch0rkdnppB3
dKZuIygrMRE/oJDwUAOwA=');
case 'arrow':
return base64_decode('R0lGODlhEQANAIABAAAAAP///yH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAARAA0AA
AIdjA9wy6gNQ4pwUmav0yvn+hhJiI3mCJ6otrIkxxQAOw==');
}
}


andi151278

Using base64_encode to produce clean filenames from usernames (e.g. for image upload) is a bad idea if Umlaute (ö,ä,ü) are allowed. Then there is a slash (/) added in the filename, that will lead to a nonexisting directory beeing looked for and your script crashing!

tom

This function supports "base64url" as described in Section 5 of RFC 4648, "Base 64 Encoding with URL and Filename Safe Alphabet"
   <?php
   function base64url_encode($plainText)
   {
       $base64 = base64_encode($plainText);
       $base64url = strtr($base64, '+/', '-_');
       return ($base64url);    
   }
   ?>
You may wish to rtrim (or escape) trailing ='s for use in a URI.


conradopinto

There is an error on the example of passing an array through an HTML Form.
In the line:
$array = unserialize(base64_decode($coded_array);
There is a ')' missing. it should be:
$array = unserialize(base64_decode($coded_array));


mitmacher

Recently I have got the problem to sent emails over SMTP with big attachments (up to 16Mb).
Memory_limit is set to 8M, post_max_size and upload_max_filesize are set to 16M, so the file-upload (html-form) does work but the necessary encoding of that file exceeds the memory limit (of course):
<?php
$data = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($tmp_file)), 76, "\n");
?>
This is bad, so I searched for a way to do that splitting/encoding stuff on-the-fly (row by row) so that I do not have to keep the whole file data in memory.
Unfortunately I cound not find any function on the web, so I decided to write it on my own and here is the result:
<?php
$fh = fopen('Input-File', 'rb');
//$fh2 = fopen('Output-File', 'wb');
$cache = '';
$eof = false;
while (1) {
if (!$eof) {
if (!feof($fh)) {
$row = fgets($fh);
} else {
$row = '';
$eof = true;
}
}
if (!empty($cache))
$row = $cache.$row;
elseif ($eof)
break;
$b64 = base64_encode($row);
$put = '';
if (strlen($b64) < 76) {
if ($eof) {
$put = $b64."\n";
$cache = '';
} else {
$cache = $row;
}
} elseif (strlen($b64) > 76) {
do {
$put .= substr($b64, 0, 76)."\n";
$b64 = substr($b64, 76);
} while (strlen($b64) > 76);
$cache = base64_decode($b64);
} else {
if ($b64{75} == '=') {
$cache = $row;
} else {
$put = $b64."\n";
$cache = '';
}
}
if (!empty($put)) {
echo $put;
//fputs($fh2, $put);
//fputs($fh2, base64_decode($put)); // for comparing
}
}
//fclose($fh2);
fclose($fh);
?>
I have tested this (and the decoding!) with several binary and text files up to 1Gb (without echo *g*) and it works great.
The only thing I am wondering about is the read-length of the fgets() function. The default is 1024 which works fine and it should also work with smaller values like 512 or even 2. But this is true only for small files (some kb), the bigger the file the more errors came up.
So the valid minimum seems to be 1024 and maybe more (4096?) on very large files, I dont know.
I have also tested fread() but it works even more worse, I also dont know why...
The other way around it is much more simple: only some base64_decode()s row by row and all has done.


sb

Re the message on 10-May-2003 04:02
You'll want to call urlencode on the base_64 encoded data before putting it into a GET.  IIUC, base 64 output includes the plus and the slash, both of which will be mungered by browsers.


mightymrj

Problem: mime attachments sending as blank or almost completely blank documents (all data is lost)
Explanation: After a couple days of trying to mime pdf attachments without losing all data, I finally came across this function in some obsolete obscure post:
set_magic_quotes_runtime()
This is set to on by default in the machine, and it causes fread() and/or base64_encode() (both used in most mime examples I've seen) to read or encrypt binary without slashes for special characters.  This causes sent files to process incorrectly, breaking, thus truncating most of the data in the file.  
Fix: pass 0 to this function and it will do a one time turn off while your code executes.
example:
<?php
  set_magic_quotes_runtime(0);
?>
This can also been turned off in the php.ini file, but I'm not sure what uses that setting or what the consequences might be.
info:
  http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.set-magic-quotes-runtime.php


eric

Note that at least some Windows systems will not print a line of characters longer than a certain length unless it has line breaks of some kind.  So if you base-64 encode a file, print it back for debugging purposes, and see nothing, don't be alarmed.

dawgeatschikin

Just a minor tweak of massimo's functions.
<?
$data = str_replace(array('+','/','='),array('-','_','.'),$data);
//replace '=' with '.' instead of with nothing, that way the process is reversible.  '.' is uri-safe according to http://www.w3.org/Addressing/URL/5_URI_BNF.html
?>


teddy

if you want to insert the base64 encoded image in your html <img src> you need to write 'data:datatype;base64,encodeddata' . For example here's a way to embed an PNG image data:
<?
//get the base64 encoded image
$handle = fopen($tempfile,'rb');
$file_content = fread($handle,filesize($tempfile));
fclose($handle);
$encoded = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content));
//then echo to browser as:
echo '<img src="data:image/png;base64,'.$encoded.' ">';
?>


peter

If you want to decode base64 encoded data in Javascript, you can use the tool (Webtoolkit.base64) on this website: http://www.webtoolkit.info/

calvin

If you want attach a binary file into mail, pay attention to use mode with "B" flag into fopen function (This is useful only on systems which differentiate between binary and text files, i.e. Windows) Include the 'b' flag in order to make your scripts more portable.
<?php
$handle = fopen($source_file,'rb');
$file_content = fread($handle,filesize($source_file));
fclose($handle);
$encoded = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content));
?>


juha

If you use base64encoded strings as cookie names, make sure you remove '=' characters. At least Internet Explorer refuses cookie names containing '=' characters or urlencoded cookie names containing %xx character replacements. Use the function below to turn base64 encoded strings to bare alphabets (get rid of / and + characters as well)
<?php
function base64clean($base64string)
{
    $base64string = str_replace(array('=','+','/'),'',$base64string);
    return $base64string;
}
?>


virtuall

If you encode text that contains symbols like < > and want to send it in GET query, be sure to urlencode the result of base64_encode, as it sometimes adds a  + (and it's a special symbol) at the end:
<?php
   echo base64_encode('<html>');
?>
returns:
PGh0bWw+
A function like this could also be useful:
<?php
function base64_urlencode($str) {
return urlencode(base64_encode($str));
};
?>


gabriel malca

If the function doesn't exist, this is a messy but effective way of doing it:
<?
echo bencode("Gabriel Malca");
// R2FicmllbCBNYWxjYQ==
function bencode($string='') {
$binval = convert_binary_str($string);
$final = "";
$start = 0;
while ($start < strlen($binval)) {
if (strlen(substr($binval,$start)) < 6)
$binval .= str_repeat("0",6-strlen(substr($binval,$start)));
$tmp = bindec(substr($binval,$start,6));
if ($tmp < 26)
$final .= chr($tmp+65);
elseif ($tmp > 25 && $tmp < 52)
$final .= chr($tmp+71);
elseif ($tmp == 62)
$final .= "+";
elseif ($tmp == 63)
$final .= "/";
elseif (!$tmp)
$final .= "A";
else
$final .= chr($tmp-4);
$start += 6;
}
if (strlen($final)%4>0)
$final .= str_repeat("=",4-strlen($final)%4);
return $final;
}
function convert_binary_str($string) {
if (strlen($string)<=0) return;
$tmp = decbin(ord($string[0]));
$tmp = str_repeat("0",8-strlen($tmp)).$tmp;
return $tmp.convert_binary_str(substr($string,1));
}
?>


cristiano calligaro

I've used base64_encode and base64_decode for file attachment both in MySQL (using a BLOB field) and MSSQL (using a TEXT field). For MSSQL remember to set in PHP.INI file both mssql.textsize and mssql.textlimit to 2147483647.
Here's the code:
######### MSSQL(mssql_)/MySQL(mysql_) file attach
$val=$HTTP_POST_FILES['lob_upload']['tmp_name'];
$valn=$HTTP_POST_FILES['lob_upload']['name'];
$valt=$HTTP_POST_FILES['lob_upload']['type'];
$data=base64_encode(addslashes(fread(fopen($val, "r"), filesize($val))));
mssql_connect("srv","usr","pass") or die ("");
mssql_select_db("db") or die ("");
$query = "UPDATE $table SET $field='$data', $fieldname='$valn', $fieldtype='$valt' WHERE DocID='$DocID'";
$result = mssql_query($query) or die(mssql_error());
mssql_close();
######### MSSQL(mssql_)/MySQL(mysql_) open file attached
mssql_connect("srv","usr","pass") or die ("");
mssql_select_db("db") or die ("");
$query = "SELECT $field,$fieldtype FROM $table WHERE DocID='$DocID'";
$result = mssql_query($query) or die(mssql_error());
$row = mssql_fetch_array($result);
header("Content-type: $row[1]");
echo stripslashes(base64_decode($row[0]));
This strategy is good for Microsoft Word, Acrobat PDF, JPG image and so on (even zipped files!!!)


web

I have implemented the base64_encode() function with some custom  mapping table so I could encode some binary data more securely without anyone knowing how to decode it
here is the class
<?php
class Base64 {

/**
* I have changed letter placement (P <=> x, S <=> 9) and the cases
* You can completely redo the mapping table
*/
private static $BinaryMap = array(
'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', //  7
'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'x', // 15
'q', 'r', '9', 't', 'u', 'v', 'w', 'x', // 23
'y', 'z', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', // 31
'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', // 39
'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', // 47
'W', 'P', 'Y', 'Z', '0', '1', '2', '3', // 55
'4', '5', '6', '7', '8', 'S', '+', '/', // 63
'=',  // padding char
);

public function __construct() {}

public function base64_encode($input) {

$output = "";
$chr1 = $chr2 = $chr3 = $enc1 = $enc2 = $enc3 = $enc4 = null;
$i = 0;

// $input = self::utf8_encode($input);

while($i < strlen($input)) {
$chr1 = ord($input[$i++]);
$chr2 = ord($input[$i++]);
$chr3 = ord($input[$i++]);

$enc1 = $chr1 >> 2;
$enc2 = (($chr1 & 3) << 4) | ($chr2 >> 4);
$enc3 = (($chr2 & 15) << 2) | ($chr3 >> 6);
$enc4 = $chr3 & 63;

if (is_nan($chr2)) {
$enc3 = $enc4 = 64;
} else if (is_nan($chr3)) {
$enc4 = 64;
}

$output .=  self::$BinaryMap[$enc1]
 . self::$BinaryMap[$enc2]
 . self::$BinaryMap[$enc3]
 . self::$BinaryMap[$enc4];
}

return $output;
}

public function utf8_encode($input) {
$utftext = null;

for ($n = 0; $n < strlen($input); $n++) {
$c = ord($input[$n]);

if ($c < 128) {
$utftext .= chr($c);
} else if (($c > 128) && ($c < 2048)) {
$utftext .= chr(($c >> 6) | 192);
$utftext .= chr(($c & 63) | 128);
} else {
$utftext .= chr(($c >> 12) | 224);
$utftext .= chr((($c & 6) & 63) | 128);
$utftext .= chr(($c & 63) | 128);
}
}

return $utftext;
}
}
?>
and the usage as follows:
<?php
$string = pack('H*', "31c85c5aaa56c1f0102301ea497d0ab010e4e131af261787"); // HEX to binary
echo Base64::base64_encode($string);
echo "<br />";
echo base64_encode($string);
?>
and the output will be:
mCHCwQPwWFaqiWhQ9x0kSbdK4tgVjHEh   //  with custom mapping
MchcWqpWwfAQIwHqSX0KsBDk4TGvJheH   //  the base64_encode()


koos_nt_hulskamp

I had to send a php array trough a FORM in HTML, and came up with this solution:
<?
$array[] = array("foo", "bar");
$coded_array = base64_encode(serialize($array));
?>
now u can put the $coded_array into an input field or even a GET link ex:
<a href="some_script.php?coded_array=<?=$coded_array;?>">script link</a>
after receiving it in the script you send it to, do the following:
<?
$coded_array = $_GET["coded_array"]     // or $_POST off course
$array = unserialize(base64_decode($coded_array);
?>


greenthumb

I had massive problems storing a serialized Object which contained UTF-8 parts and some ascii parts (from the serialization i think) into mysql.
So i used base64_encode to get a clean string which could be safely decoded and unserialized.
this is bulletproof - if you ever have trouble use this.
the runtime is imho no problem.


php

I am finding a length restriction with base64_encode (or possibly with echo) in PHP 4.3.9.
This works ok for me:
<?php
echo strlen(str_repeat('-', 3273)); // 3273
echo strlen(base64_encode(str_repeat('-', 3273))); // 4364
echo base64_encode(str_repeat('-', 3273)); // LS0t repeated
?>
But change the length to 3274 and the third echo prints nothing.
<?php
echo strlen(str_repeat('-', 3274)); // 3274
echo strlen(base64_encode(str_repeat('-', 3274))); // 4368
echo base64_encode(str_repeat('-', 3274)); // Nothing at all printed
?>
This has obvious implications if you're wanting to encode a fairly large serialized array and echo it to a form field.


massimo dot scamarcia

function urlsafe_b64encode($string) {
$data = base64_encode($string);
$data = str_replace(array('+','/','='),array('-','_',''),$data);
return $data;
}
function urlsafe_b64decode($string) {
$data = str_replace(array('-','_'),array('+','/'),$string);
$mod4 = strlen($data) % 4;
if ($mod4) {
$data .= substr('====', $mod4);
}
return base64_decode($data);
}
Php version of perl's MIME::Base64::URLSafe, that provides an url-safe base64 string encoding/decoding (compatible with python base64's urlsafe methods)


siu from hong kong

As someone suggested above:
using base64_encode() to encode image data and finally output to browser using "data" scheme of IMG src:
<?
// ...
echo '<img src="data:image/png;base64,'.$encoded.' ">';
?>
Netscape browser supports this... However, Windows' Internet Explorer does not.
To embed binary contents in ascii text based html file for IE, you need use MIME multipart.


massimo dot scamarcia

$data = str_replace(array('+','/','='),array('-','_',),$data); // MIME::Base64::URLSafe implementation
     
$data = str_replace(array('+','/'),array('-','_'),$data); // Python raise "TypeError: Incorrect padding" if you remove "=" chars when decoding


Change Language


Follow Navioo On Twitter
base64_decode
base64_encode
get_headers
get_meta_tags
http_build_query
parse_url
rawurldecode
rawurlencode
urldecode
urlencode
eXTReMe Tracker