How to decode a Base64 string?

Question

I have a normal string in Powershell that is from a text file containing Base64 text; it is stored in $x. I am trying to decode it as such:

$z =         


        

Answer 1

Base64 encoding converts three 8-bit bytes (0-255) into four 6-bit bytes (0-63 aka base64). Each of the four bytes indexes an ASCII string which represents the final output as four 8-bit ASCII characters. The indexed string is typically 'A-Za-z0-9+/' with '=' used as padding. This is why encoded data is 4/3 longer.

Base64 decoding is the inverse process. And as one would expect, the decoded data is 3/4 as long.

While base64 encoding can encode plain text, its real benefit is encoding non-printable characters which may be interpreted by transmitting systems as control characters.

I suggest the original poster render $z as bytes with each bit having meaning to the application. Rendering non-printable characters as text typically invokes Unicode which produces glyphs based on your system's localization.

Base64decode("the answer to life the universe and everything") = 00101010