Base64 Encode "string" - command-line Windows?

Question

I have found numerous ways to base64 encode whole files using the command-line on Windows, but I can't seem to find a simple way to batch encode just a "string" using a command-line utility.

How does one do this, for use in a batch file for example?

Answer 1

Here's a PowerShell one-liner you can run from a cmd console that'll Base64 encode a string.

powershell "[convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes(\"Hello world!\"))"

It's probably not as fast as npocmaka's solution, but you could set a console macro with it.

doskey btoa=powershell "[convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes(\"$*\"))"
doskey atob=powershell "[Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([convert]::FromBase64String(\"$*\"))"

btoa Hello world!
btoa This is fun.
btoa wheeeeee!
atob SGVsbG8gd29ybGQh

Be advised that doskey doesn't work in batch scripts -- only the console. If you want do use this in a batch script, make a function.

@echo off
setlocal

call :btoa b64[0] "Hello world!"
call :btoa b64[1] "This is fun."
call :btoa b64[2] "wheeeeee!"
call :atob b64[3] SGVsbG8gd29ybGQh

set b64
goto :EOF

:btoa <var_to_set> <str>
for /f "delims=" %%I in (
    'powershell "[convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes(\"%~2\"))"'
) do set "%~1=%%I"
goto :EOF

:atob <var_to_set> <str>
for /f "delims=" %%I in (
    'powershell "[Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([convert]::FromBase64String(\"%~2\"))"'
) do set "%~1=%%I"
goto :EOF

---

Or if you'd prefer a batch + JScript hybrid:

@if (@CodeSection==@Batch) @then
@echo off & setlocal

call :btoa b64[0] "Hello world!"
call :btoa b64[1] "This is fun."
call :btoa b64[2] "wheeeeee!"
call :atob b64[3] SGVsbG8gd29ybGQh

set b64
goto :EOF

:btoa <var_to_set> <str>
:atob <var_to_set> <str>
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0" %0 "%~2"') do set "%~1=%%I"
goto :EOF

@end // end batch / begin JScript hybrid code
var htmlfile = WSH.CreateObject('htmlfile');
htmlfile.write('<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="IE=10" />');
WSH.Echo(htmlfile.parentWindow[WSH.Arguments(0).substr(1)](WSH.Arguments(1)));

---

Edit: batch + VBScript hybrid for @Hackoo:

<!-- : batch portion
@echo off & setlocal

call :btoa b64[0] "Hello world!"
call :btoa b64[1] "This is fun."
call :btoa b64[2] "wheeeeee!"
call :atob b64[3] SGVsbG8gd29ybGQh

set b64
goto :EOF

:btoa <var_to_set> <str>
:atob <var_to_set> <str>
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo "%~f0?.wsf" %0 "%~2"') do set "%~1=%%I"
goto :EOF

: VBScript -->
<job>
    <script language="VBScript">
        Set htmlfile = WSH.CreateObject("htmlfile")
        htmlfile.write("<meta http-equiv='x-ua-compatible' content='IE=10' />")
        if WSH.Arguments(0) = ":btoa" then
            WScript.Echo htmlfile.parentWindow.btoa(WSH.Arguments(1))
        else
            WScript.Echo htmlfile.parentWindow.atob(WSH.Arguments(1))
        end if
    </script>
</job>