Base64 Encoding in Golang

Introduction

This lab aims to test your knowledge of base64 encoding in Golang.

Base64 Encoding

You are required to write a Golang program that encodes and decodes a given string using both standard and URL-compatible base64 encoding.

• The program should import the encoding/base64 package with the b64 name instead of the default base64.
• The program should encode the given string using both standard and URL-compatible base64 encoding.
• The program should decode the encoded string using both standard and URL-compatible base64 decoding.
• The program should print the encoded and decoded strings to the console.

## The string encodes to slightly different values with the
## standard and URL base64 encoders (trailing `+` vs `-`)
## but they both decode to the original string as desired.

There is the full code below:

// Go provides built-in support for [base64
// encoding/decoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64).

package main

// This syntax imports the `encoding/base64` package with
// the `b64` name instead of the default `base64`. It'll
// save us some space below.
import (
    b64 "encoding/base64"
    "fmt"
)

func main() {

    // Here's the `string` we'll encode/decode.
    data := "abc123!?$*&()'-=@~"

    // Go supports both standard and URL-compatible
    // base64. Here's how to encode using the standard
    // encoder. The encoder requires a `[]byte` so we
    // convert our `string` to that type.
    sEnc := b64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(data))
    fmt.Println(sEnc)

    // Decoding may return an error, which you can check
    // if you don't already know the input to be
    // well-formed.
    sDec, _ := b64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(sEnc)
    fmt.Println(string(sDec))
    fmt.Println()

    // This encodes/decodes using a URL-compatible base64
    // format.
    uEnc := b64.URLEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(data))
    fmt.Println(uEnc)
    uDec, _ := b64.URLEncoding.DecodeString(uEnc)
    fmt.Println(string(uDec))
}

Summary

In this lab, you learned how to encode and decode a given string using both standard and URL-compatible base64 encoding in Golang.