How do I base64 encode (decode) in C?

Question

I have binary data in an unsigned char variable. I need to convert them to PEM base64 in c. I looked in openssl library but i could not find any function. Does any body have

Answer 1

Here is an optimized version of encoder for the accepted answer, that also supports line-breaking for MIME and other protocols (simlar optimization can be applied to the decoder):

 char *base64_encode(const unsigned char *data,
                    size_t input_length,
                    size_t *output_length,
                    bool addLineBreaks)

    *output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
    if (addLineBreaks) *output_length += *output_length / 38; //  CRLF after each 76 chars

    char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
    if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;

    UInt32 octet_a;
    UInt32 octet_b;
    UInt32 octet_c;
    UInt32 triple;
    int lineCount = 0;
    int sizeMod = size - (size % 3); // check if there is a partial triplet
    // adding all octet triplets, before partial last triplet
    for (; offset < sizeMod; ) 
    {
        octet_a = data[offset++];
        octet_b = data[offset++];
        octet_c = data[offset++];

        triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;

        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
        if (addLineBreaks)
        {
            if (++lineCount == 19)
            {
                encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 13;
                encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 10;
                lineCount = 0;
            }
        }
    }

    // last bytes
    if (sizeMod < size)
    {
        octet_a = data[offset++]; // first octect always added
        octet_b = offset < size ? data[offset++] : (UInt32)0; // conditional 2nd octet
        octet_c = (UInt32)0; // last character is definitely padded

        triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;

        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
        encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];

        // add padding '='
        sizeMod = size % 3; 
        // last character is definitely padded
        encoded_data[mBufferPos - 1] = (byte)'=';
        if (sizeMod == 1) encoded_data[mBufferPos - 2] = (byte)'=';
    }
 }