problems with base64

[Byron]

Hi Karl,

I don't know if this is much help for you, but have you tried using the 
following:

	import base64
	print base64.decodestring("UGxlYXNlLCBoZWxwIG1lIQ==")
	print base64.encodestring("Please, help me!")

Byron
---



Karl Pech wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I'm trying to write a program which can read in files in the following
> format:
> sos_encoded.txt:
> ---
> begin-base64 644 sos.txt
> UGxlYXNlLCBoZWxwIG1lIQ==
> ---
> 
> and convert them to "clear byte code". For example if you take the file
> sos_encoded.txt and use my program on it you should get the following:
> sos.txt:
> ---
> Please, help me!
> ---
> 
> Unfortunately if I try to convert files which didn't have any "human
> readable text" when they were encoded and if these files are large (> 1.5MB)
> I get back corrupted files.
> 
> This is the source of my program:
> ---
> import string
> 
> def extract_base64(source):
>   source_ = source
>   all_chars = string.maketrans('','') # create 256-ASCII-char-table
> 
>   # delete all base64-chars from source-copy
>   source_without_base64_signs = source_.translate(all_chars, string.letters+string.digits+"+/=")
> 
>   # delete all chars, which remained in the changed source-copy, from the first copy
>   # and return this new copy
>   # --> all base64-chars remain
>   return source_.translate(all_chars, source_without_base64_signs)
> 
> def convert_to_8bits(source):
>   base64_table = {'A' :  0, 'N' : 13, 'a' : 26, 'n' : 39, '0' : 52,
>                   'B' :  1, 'O' : 14, 'b' : 27, 'o' : 40, '1' : 53,
>                   'C' :  2, 'P' : 15, 'c' : 28, 'p' : 41, '2' : 54,
>                   'D' :  3, 'Q' : 16, 'd' : 29, 'q' : 42, '3' : 55,
>                   'E' :  4, 'R' : 17, 'e' : 30, 'r' : 43, '4' : 56,
>                   'F' :  5, 'S' : 18, 'f' : 31, 's' : 44, '5' : 57,
>                   'G' :  6, 'T' : 19, 'g' : 32, 't' : 45, '6' : 58,
>                   'H' :  7, 'U' : 20, 'h' : 33, 'u' : 46, '7' : 59,
>                   'I' :  8, 'V' : 21, 'i' : 34, 'v' : 47, '8' : 60,
>                   'J' :  9, 'W' : 22, 'j' : 35, 'w' : 48, '9' : 61,
>                   'K' : 10, 'X' : 23, 'k' : 36, 'x' : 49, '+' : 62,
>                   'L' : 11, 'Y' : 24, 'l' : 37, 'y' : 50, '/' : 63,
>                   'M' : 12, 'Z' : 25, 'm' : 38, 'z' : 51, '=' : 0}
> 
>   result_ = []
> 
>   # fill an integer with four 6-bit-blocks from left to right
>   box_ =  int( (base64_table[source[0]] << 26)\
>              + (base64_table[source[1]] << 20)\
>              + (base64_table[source[2]] << 14)\
>              + (base64_table[source[3]] <<  8) )
> 
>   # get 8-bit-blocks out of the integer starting with the first 6-bit-block we have
>   # inserted plus the two highest bits from the second 6-bit-block
>   result_ += chr((box_ >> 24) & 255) + chr((box_ >> 16) & 255) + chr((box_ >> 8) & 255)
> 
>   # strip possible zeros from decoded result
>   del result_[len(result_)-source.count('='):len(result_)]
> 
>   return result_
> 
> #open source file in binary-mode
> fsource = open(raw_input("Please specify the source file that should be decoded: "), "rb")
> 
> # read in first line of the file and split it in 2+n "whitespace-blocks"
> _1stline = fsource.readline().split()
> 
> # delete the first two blocks ("begin ..." and "644 ...")
> del _1stline[0:2]
> 
> # join the other blocks to the target-filename
> targetname = string.join(_1stline)
> ftarget = open(targetname, "wb")
> 
> # read in the remainder of the file in 4-byte-blocks and write the results in 3-byte-blocks
> # into the target file
> 
> while 1 == 1:
>   source = ''
>   while len(source) < 4:
>     source += fsource.read(4)
>     if source == '':
>       break
> 
>     # reduce byte-code to base64-chars
>     source = extract_base64(source)
> 
>   if source == '':
>     break
> 
>   # convert 6-bit-blocks to 8-bit-blocks
>   clear_text = convert_to_8bits(source)
> 
>   ftarget.writelines(clear_text)
> 
> ftarget.close()
> fsource.close()
> 
> print "file "+targetname+" has been written!"
> ---
> 
> Unfortunately I can't use python's standard base64-module since
> this whole task is an exercise. :(
> 
> And I don't see any logical problems in my code. I think I really
> need some more eyes to watch over this. So you are my "last hope"! ;)
> Perhaps you can give me a hint.
> 
> Thank you very much!
> 
> Regards
> Karl
>