base32.rb

Base32 is one of several base 32 transfer encodings. Base32 uses a 32-character set comprising the twenty-six upper-case letters A–Z, and the digits 2–7. Base32 is primarily used to encode binary data, but Base32 is also able to encode binary text like ASCII. Base32 is a notation for encoding arbitrary byte data using a restricted set of symbols that can be conveniently used by humans and processed by computers. Base32 consists of a symbol set made up of 32 different characters, as well as an algorithm for encoding arbitrary sequences of 8-bit bytes into the Base32 alphabet. Because more than one 5-bit Base32 symbol is needed to represent each 8-bit input byte, it also specifies requirements on the allowed lengths of Base32 strings (which must be multiples of 40 bits). The closely related Base64 system, in contrast, uses a set of 64 symbols.