ToBase64  
Description
Calculates the Base64 representation of a string or binary object. The Base64 format uses printable characters, allowing binary data to be sent in forms and e-mail, and stored in a database or file.
The Base64 representation of a string or binary object.
 
Category
Conversion functions, Other functions, String functions
 
Function syntax
ToBase64(string or binary_object[, encoding])
 
See also
  • cffile for information about loading and reading binary data
  • cfwddx for information about serializing and deserializing binary data
  • IsBinary and ToBinary for checking for binary data and converting a Base64 object to binary format
 
History
ColdFusion MX: Added the encoding attribute.
 
Parameters
 
Parameter      Description
string or binary_object A string, the name of a string, or a binary object.
encoding For a string, defines how characters are represented in a byte array. The
  following list includes commonly used values::
  utf-8
  iso-8859-1
  windows-1252
  us-ascii
  shift_jis
  iso-2022-jp
  euc-jp
  euc-kr
  big5
  euc-cn
  utf-16
  For more information on character encodings, see:
  www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html.
  Default: the encoding of the page on which the function is called. See
  cfcontent on page 92.
  For a binary object, this parameter is ignored.
 
Usage
Base64 provides 6-bit encoding of data. The encoding process represents 24-bit groups of input bits as output strings of 4 encoded ASCII characters. Binary objects and, in some cases, 8-bit characters, cannot be transported over many internet protocols, such as HTTP and SMTP. Using Base64 safely converts the data into a format that is safe over any internet protocol.
Base64 lets you store binary objects in a database.
Note: To reverse Base64 encoding of a string, you can convert it to a binary object, then convert the binary object to a string, using the toString function.
 
Example
<h3>ToBase64 Example</h3>
<!--- Initialize data. ---->
<cfset charData = "">
<!--- Create string of ASCII characters (32-255); concatenate them --->
<cfloop index = "data" from = "32" to = "255">
   <cfset ch = chr(data)>
   <cfset charData = charData & ch>
</cfloop>
<p>
The following string is the concatenation of all characters (32 to 255) 
from the ASCII table.<br>
<cfoutput>#charData#</cfoutput>
</p>
<!--- Create a Base64 representation of this string. ---->
<cfset data64 = toBase64(charData)>

<!----- Convert string to binary. ------->
<cfset binaryData = toBinary(data64)>
<!--- Convert binary back to Base64. ---->
<cfset another64 = toBase64(binaryData)>
<!---- Compare another64 with data64 to ensure that they are equal. ---->
<cfif another64 eq data64>
   <h3>Base64 representations are identical.</h3>
<cfelse>
   <h3>Conversion error.</h3>
</cfif>
string or binary_object  
A string, the name of a string, or a binary object.
encoding  
For a string, defines how characters are represented in a byte array. The following list includes commonly used values:
  • utf-8
  • iso-8859-1
  • windows-1252
  • us-ascii
  • shift_jis
  • iso-2022-jp
  • euc-jp
  • euc-kr
  • big5
  • euc-cn
  • utf-16
For more information on character encoding, see: http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html.
Default: the encoding of the page on which the function is called. See cfcontent.
For a binary object, this parameter is ignored.