:mod:`binhex` --- Encode and decode binhex4 files

=================================================

.. module:: binhex

   :synopsis: Encode and decode files in binhex4 format.

This module encodes and decodes files in binhex4 format, a format allowing

representation of Macintosh files in ASCII.  On the Macintosh, both forks of a

file and the finder information are encoded (or decoded), on other platforms

only the data fork is handled.

.. warning::

   In 3.0, special Macintosh support is removed.

The :mod:`binhex` module defines the following functions:

.. function:: binhex(input, output)

   Convert a binary file with filename *input* to binhex file *output*. The

   *output* parameter can either be a filename or a file-like object (any object

   supporting a :meth:`write` and :meth:`close` method).

.. function:: hexbin(input[, output])

   Decode a binhex file *input*. *input* may be a filename or a file-like object

   supporting :meth:`read` and :meth:`close` methods. The resulting file is written

   to a file named *output*, unless the argument is omitted in which case the

   output filename is read from the binhex file.

The following exception is also defined:

.. exception:: Error

   Exception raised when something can't be encoded using the binhex format (for

   example, a filename is too long to fit in the filename field), or when input is

   not properly encoded binhex data.

.. seealso::

   Module :mod:`binascii`

      Support module containing ASCII-to-binary and binary-to-ASCII conversions.

.. _binhex-notes:

Notes

-----

There is an alternative, more powerful interface to the coder and decoder, see

the source for details.

If you code or decode textfiles on non-Macintosh platforms they will still use

the old Macintosh newline convention (carriage-return as end of line).

As of this writing, :func:`hexbin` appears to not work in all cases.