Encode an ASCII string into Base-64 Format

Base 64 is an encoding scheme that converts binary data into text format so that encoded textual data can be easily transported over network un-corrupted and without any data loss. Base64 is used commonly in a number of applications including email via MIME, and storing complex data in XML. 
Problem with sending normal binary data to a network is that bits can be misinterpreted by underlying protocols, produce incorrect data at receiving node and that is why we use this code. 

Why base 64 ?

Resultant text after encoding our data has those characters which are widely present in many character sets so there is very less chance of data being corrupted or modified. 

How to convert into base 64 format ?

The character set in base64 is 

char_set = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/" 
// 64 character

Basic idea:

Lets take an example. We have to encode string “MENON” into base64 format. Lets call “MENON” as input_str, above base64 character set (“ABC..+/”) as char_set and resultant encoded string as res_str. 

1. Take 3 characters from input_str i.e “MEN” since each character size is 8 bits we will have(8 * 3) 24 bits with us.
2. Group them in a block of 6 bits each (24 / 6 = 4 blocks). (why 6?) because 2^6 = 64 characters, with 6 bits we can represent each character in char_set.
3. Convert each block of 6 bits to its corresponding decimal value. Decimal value obtained is the index of resultant encoded character in char_set.
4. So for each 3 characters from input_str we will receive 4 characters in res_str.
5. What if we have less than 3 characters in input_str left i.e “ON”. We have 16 bits and blocks will be 16 / 6 = 2 blocks. Rightmost 4 bits will not make a proper block (1 block = 6 bits) so we append zeros to right side of block to make it a proper block i.e 2 zeros will be appended to right. Now we have 3 proper blocks, find corresponding decimal value of each block to get index.
6. Since There were less than 3 characters (“ON”) in input_str we will append “=” in res_str. e.g “ON” here 3 – 2 = 1 padding of “=” in res_str.

Example

1. Convert “MENON” into its (8 bit) binary state format. Take each characters of the string and write its 8 – bit binary representation. 
ASCII values of characters in string to be encoded 

M : 77 (01001101), E : 69 (01000101), 
N : 78 (01001110), O : 79 (01001111), N : 78 (01001110)

resultant binary data of above string is : 

01001101 01000101 01001110 01001111 01001110

2. Starting from left make blocks of 6 bits until all bits are covered 
BIT-STREAM : 

(010011) (010100) (010101) (001110) (010011) (110100) (1110)

3. If the rightmost block is less than 6 bits just append zeros to the right of that block to make it 6 bits. Here in above example we have to appended 2 zeros to make it 6. 
BIT-STREAM : 

(010011) (010100) (010101) (001110) (010011) (110100) (111000)

Notice the bold zeros.

4. Take 3 characters from input_str (“MEN”) i.e 24 bits and find corresponding decimal value (index to char_set). 
BLOCKS : 

INDEX --> (010011) : 19, (010100) : 20, (010101) : 21, (001110) : 14
char_set[19] = T, char_set[20] = U, char_set[21] = V, char_set[14] = O

So our input_str = “MEN” will be converted to encoded string “TUVO”.
5. Take remaining characters (“ON”). We have to pad resultant encoded string with 1 “=” as number of characters is less than 3 in input_str. (3 – 2 = 1 padding) 
BLOCKS : 

INDEX --> (010011) : 19 (110100) : 52 (111000) : 56
char_set[19] = T char_set[52] = 0 char_set[56] = 4
So our input_str = "ON" will be converted to encoded string "T04=".

Examples: 

Input : MENON // string in ASCII
Output :TUVOT04= // encoded string in Base 64.
Input : geeksforgeeks
Output : Z2Vla3Nmb3JnZWVrcw==

We can use bitwise operators to encode our string. We can take an integer “val” (usually 4 bytes on most compilers) and store all characters of input_str (3 at a time) in val. The characters from input_str will be stored in val 
in form of bits. We will use (OR operator) to store the characters and (LEFT – SHIFT) by 8 so to 
make room for another 8 bits. In similar fashion we will use (RIGHT – SHIFT) to retrieve bits from val 6 at a time 
and find value of bits by doing & with 63 (111111) which will give us index. Then we can get our resultant character by just going to that index of char_set.

C++

// C++ program to encode an ASCII 
// string in Base64 format
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#define SIZE 1000
 
// Takes string to be encoded as input
// and its length and returns encoded string
char* base64Encoder(char input_str[], int len_str)
{
  
    // Character set of base64 encoding scheme
    char char_set[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
     
    // Resultant string
    char *res_str = (char *) malloc(SIZE * sizeof(char));
     
    int index, no_of_bits = 0, padding = 0, val = 0, count = 0, temp;
    int i, j, k = 0;
     
    // Loop takes 3 characters at a time from 
    // input_str and stores it in val
    for (i = 0; i < len_str; i += 3)
        {
            val = 0, count = 0, no_of_bits = 0;
 
            for (j = i; j < len_str && j <= i + 2; j++)
            {
                // binary data of input_str is stored in val
                val = val << 8; 
                 
                // (A + 0 = A) stores character in val
                val = val | input_str[j]; 
                 
                // calculates how many time loop 
                // ran if "MEN" -> 3 otherwise "ON" -> 2
                count++;
             
            }
 
            no_of_bits = count * 8; 
 
            // calculates how many "=" to append after res_str.
            padding = no_of_bits % 3; 
 
            // extracts all bits from val (6 at a time) 
            // and find the value of each block
            while (no_of_bits != 0) 
            {
                // retrieve the value of each block
                if (no_of_bits >= 6)
                {
                    temp = no_of_bits - 6;
                     
                    // binary of 63 is (111111) f
                    index = (val >> temp) & 63; 
                    no_of_bits -= 6;         
                }
                else
                {
                    temp = 6 - no_of_bits;
                     
                    // append zeros to right if bits are less than 6
                    index = (val << temp) & 63; 
                    no_of_bits = 0;
                }
                res_str[k++] = char_set[index];
            }
    }
 
    // padding is done here
    for (i = 1; i <= padding; i++) 
    {
        res_str[k++] = '=';
    }
 
    res_str[k] = '\0';
 
    return res_str;
 
}
 
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    char input_str[] = "MENON";
    int len_str;
 
    // calculates length of string
    len_str = sizeof(input_str) / sizeof(input_str[0]);
     
    // to exclude '\0' character
    len_str -= 1; 
 
    cout <<"Input string is : "<< input_str << endl;
    cout <<"Encoded string is : "<< base64Encoder(input_str, len_str)<< endl;
    return 0;
}

// This code is contributed by shivanisinghss2110

C

// C program to encode an ASCII 
// string in Base64 format
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define SIZE 1000

// Takes string to be encoded as input
// and its length and returns encoded string
char* base64Encoder(char input_str[], int len_str)
{
    // Character set of base64 encoding scheme
    char char_set[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
    
    // Resultant string
    char *res_str = (char *) malloc(SIZE * sizeof(char));
    
    int index, no_of_bits = 0, padding = 0, val = 0, count = 0, temp;
    int i, j, k = 0;
    
    // Loop takes 3 characters at a time from 
    // input_str and stores it in val
    for (i = 0; i < len_str; i += 3)
        {
            val = 0, count = 0, no_of_bits = 0;

            for (j = i; j < len_str && j <= i + 2; j++)
            {
                // binary data of input_str is stored in val
                val = val << 8; 
                
                // (A + 0 = A) stores character in val
                val = val | input_str[j]; 
                
                // calculates how many time loop 
                // ran if "MEN" -> 3 otherwise "ON" -> 2
                count++;
            
            }

            no_of_bits = count * 8; 

            // calculates how many "=" to append after res_str.
            padding = no_of_bits % 3; 

            // extracts all bits from val (6 at a time) 
            // and find the value of each block
            while (no_of_bits != 0) 
            {
                // retrieve the value of each block
                if (no_of_bits >= 6)
                {
                    temp = no_of_bits - 6;
                    
                    // binary of 63 is (111111) f
                    index = (val >> temp) & 63; 
                    no_of_bits -= 6;         
                }
                else
                {
                    temp = 6 - no_of_bits;
                    
                    // append zeros to right if bits are less than 6
                    index = (val << temp) & 63; 
                    no_of_bits = 0;
                }
                res_str[k++] = char_set[index];
            }
    }

    // padding is done here
    for (i = 1; i <= padding; i++) 
    {
        res_str[k++] = '=';
    }

    res_str[k] = '\0';

    return res_str;

}


// Driver code
int main()
{
    char input_str[] = "MENON";
    int len_str;

    // calculates length of string
    len_str = sizeof(input_str) / sizeof(input_str[0]);
    
    // to exclude '\0' character
    len_str -= 1; 

    printf("Input string is : %s\n", input_str);
    printf("Encoded string is : %s\n", base64Encoder(input_str, len_str));
    return 0;
}

Java

public class Main {
    // Takes string to be encoded as input
    // and its length and returns encoded string
    public static String base64Encoder(char[] input_str, int len_str) {
        // Character set of base64 encoding scheme
        char[] char_set = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/".toCharArray();
        
        // Resultant string
        StringBuilder res_str = new StringBuilder();
        
        int index, no_of_bits = 0, padding = 0, val = 0, count = 0, temp;
        
        // Loop takes 3 characters at a time from
        // input_str and stores it in val
        for (int i = 0; i < len_str; i += 3) {
            val = 0;
            count = 0;
            no_of_bits = 0;

            for (int j = i; j < len_str && j <= i + 2; j++) {
                // binary data of input_str is stored in val
                val = val << 8;
                
                // (A + 0 = A) stores character in val
                val = val | input_str[j];
                
                // calculates how many times loop ran
                // if "MEN" -> 3 otherwise "ON" -> 2
                count++;
            }

            no_of_bits = count * 8;

            // calculates how many "=" to append after res_str.
            padding = no_of_bits % 3;

            // extracts all bits from val (6 at a time)
            // and find the value of each block
            while (no_of_bits != 0) {
                // retrieve the value of each block
                if (no_of_bits >= 6) {
                    temp = no_of_bits - 6;
                    
                    // binary of 63 is (111111) f
                    index = (val >> temp) & 63;
                    no_of_bits -= 6;
                } else {
                    temp = 6 - no_of_bits;
                    
                    // append zeros to right if bits are less than 6
                    index = (val << temp) & 63;
                    no_of_bits = 0;
                }
                res_str.append(char_set[index]);
            }
        }

        // padding is done here
        for (int i = 1; i <= padding; i++) {
            res_str.append('=');
        }

        return res_str.toString();
    }

    // Driver code
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char[] input_str = "MENON".toCharArray();
        int len_str;

        // calculates length of string
        len_str = input_str.length;

        // Input string is : MENON
        System.out.println("Input string is : " + new String(input_str));
        
        // Encoded string is : TUVO T04=
        System.out.println("Encoded string is : " + base64Encoder(input_str, len_str));
    }
}
//tHIS CODE IS CONTRIBUTED BY kishan.

Python3

import base64

# Function to encode an ASCII string into Base64 format
def base64Encoder(input_str):
    # Character set of base64 encoding scheme
    char_set = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/"
    
    # Resultant string
    res_str = ""
    
    # Loop over input string taking 3 characters at a time
    for i in range(0, len(input_str), 3):
        val = 0
        count = 0
        
        # Loop over characters within the 3-character block
        for j in range(i, min(i + 3, len(input_str))):
            # Store binary data of input_str in val
            val = val << 8
            # Store the character in val
            val = val | ord(input_str[j])
            count += 1
        
        # Calculate number of bits
        no_of_bits = count * 8
        
        # Calculate padding
        padding = no_of_bits % 3
        
        # Extract all bits from val (6 at a time) and find the value of each block
        while no_of_bits != 0:
            if no_of_bits >= 6:
                temp = no_of_bits - 6
                index = (val >> temp) & 63
                no_of_bits -= 6
            else:
                temp = 6 - no_of_bits
                index = (val << temp) & 63
                no_of_bits = 0
            res_str += char_set[index]
    
    # Add padding if necessary
    for i in range(padding):
        res_str += '='
    
    return res_str

# Driver code
if __name__ == "__main__":
    input_str = "MENON"
    
    print("Input string is:", input_str)
    print("Encoded string is:", base64Encoder(input_str))
#this code is contributed by Adarsh

C#

using System;
using System.Text;

public class MainClass {
    // Function to encode an ASCII string into Base64 format
    public static string Base64Encoder(string inputStr) {
        // Character set of base64 encoding scheme
        string charSet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";

        // Resultant string
        string resStr = "";

        // Loop over input string taking 3 characters at a time
        for (int i = 0; i < inputStr.Length; i += 3) {
            int val = 0;
            int count = 0;

            // Loop over characters within the 3-character block
            for (int j = i; j < Math.Min(i + 3, inputStr.Length); j++) {
                // Store binary data of inputStr in val
                val = val << 8;
                // Store the character in val
                val = val | (int)inputStr[j];
                count++;
            }

            // Calculate number of bits
            int noOfBits = count * 8;

            // Calculate padding
            int padding = noOfBits % 3;

            // Extract all bits from val (6 at a time) and find the value of each block
            while (noOfBits != 0) {
                int index;
                if (noOfBits >= 6) {
                    int temp = noOfBits - 6;
                    index = (val >> temp) & 63;
                    noOfBits -= 6;
                } else {
                    int temp = 6 - noOfBits;
                    index = (val << temp) & 63;
                    noOfBits = 0;
                }
                resStr += charSet[index];
            }

            // Add padding if necessary
            for (int k = 0; k < padding; k++) {
                resStr += '=';
            }
        }

        return resStr;
    }

    // Driver code
    public static void Main (string[] args) {
        string inputStr = "MENON";

        Console.WriteLine("Input string is: " + inputStr);
        Console.WriteLine("Encoded string is: " + Base64Encoder(inputStr));
    }
}
//this code is contributed by Utkarsh

JavaScript

// JavaScript program to encode an ASCII string in Base64 format

// Takes string to be encoded as input and its length and returns encoded string
function base64Encoder(input_str) {
    // Character set of base64 encoding scheme
    const char_set = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";

    // Resultant string
    let res_str = "";

    let index, no_of_bits = 0, padding = 0, val = 0, count = 0, temp;
    let i, j, k = 0;

    // Loop takes 3 characters at a time from input_str and stores it in val
    for (i = 0; i < input_str.length; i += 3) {
        val = 0, count = 0, no_of_bits = 0;

        for (j = i; j < input_str.length && j <= i + 2; j++) {
            // binary data of input_str is stored in val
            val = val << 8;
            // (A + 0 = A) stores character in val
            val = val | input_str.charCodeAt(j);
            // calculates how many time loop ran if "MEN" -> 3 otherwise "ON" -> 2
            count++;
        }

        no_of_bits = count * 8;

        // calculates how many "=" to append after res_str.
        padding = no_of_bits % 3;

        // extracts all bits from val (6 at a time) and find the value of each block
        while (no_of_bits != 0) {
            // retrieve the value of each block
            if (no_of_bits >= 6) {
                temp = no_of_bits - 6;
                // binary of 63 is (111111) f
                index = (val >> temp) & 63;
                no_of_bits -= 6;
            } else {
                temp = 6 - no_of_bits;
                // append zeros to right if bits are less than 6
                index = (val << temp) & 63;
                no_of_bits = 0;
            }
            res_str += char_set[index];
        }
    }

    // padding is done here
    for (i = 1; i <= padding; i++) {
        res_str += '=';
    }

    return res_str;
}

// Driver code
function main() {
    const input_str = "MENON";

    console.log("Input string is : " + input_str);
    console.log("Encoded string is : " + base64Encoder(input_str));
}

// Call the main function
main();

Output

Input string is : MENON
Encoded string is : TUVOT04=

Time Complexity: O(2 * N) inserting bits into val + retrieving bits form val
Space Complexity: O(N) where N is the size of the input string

Python Solution:

C++

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;

#define SIZE 1000

// Function to encode an ASCII string into Base64 format
char* base64Encoder(char input_str[], int len_str) {
    // Define the character set for Base64 encoding
    char char_set[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";

    // Initialize the result string
    char *res_str = new char[SIZE];
    int index, no_of_bits = 0, padding = 0, val = 0, count = 0, temp;
    int k = 0;

    // Loop to process input string in chunks of 3 characters
    for (int i = 0; i < len_str; i += 3) {
        val = 0, count = 0, no_of_bits = 0;

        // Process 3 characters at a time
        for (int j = i; j < len_str && j <= i + 2; j++) {
            // Convert characters to their binary representation and store in val
            val = val << 8;
            val = val | input_str[j];
            count++;
        }

        // Calculate the total number of bits and padding required
        no_of_bits = count * 8;
        padding = no_of_bits % 3;

        // Process each 6-bit chunk and map it to its corresponding Base64 character
        while (no_of_bits != 0) {
            if (no_of_bits >= 6) {
                temp = no_of_bits - 6;
                index = (val >> temp) & 63;
                no_of_bits -= 6;
            } else {
                temp = 6 - no_of_bits;
                index = (val << temp) & 63;
                no_of_bits = 0;
            }
            res_str[k++] = char_set[index];
        }
    }

    // Add padding characters ('=') if necessary
    for (int i = 1; i <= padding; i++) {
        res_str[k++] = '=';
    }

    // Null-terminate the result string
    res_str[k] = '\0';

    // Return the encoded string
    return res_str;
}

// Main function
int main() {
    // Input string
    char input_str[] = "MENON";
    int len_str = strlen(input_str);

    // Display the input string
    cout << "Input string is: " << input_str << endl;

    // Encode the input string into Base64 format
    char* encoded_str = base64Encoder(input_str, len_str);

    // Display the encoded string
    cout << "Encoded string is: " << encoded_str << endl;

    // Free the dynamically allocated memory
    delete[] encoded_str;

    return 0;
}
//this code is contribited by Utkarsh

Python3

import base64

def base64_encoder(input_str):
    # Encode the input string using base64 encoding
    encoded_bytes = base64.b64encode(input_str.encode())
    # Decode the bytes and convert to string
    encoded_str = encoded_bytes.decode()
    return encoded_str

def main():
    input_str = "MENON"
    print("Input string is:", input_str)
    encoded_str = base64_encoder(input_str)
    print("Encoded string is:", encoded_str)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Output

Input string is: MENON
Encoded string is: TUVOT04=

Exercise : Implement a base 64 decoder