@cindex base 64 encoding
Base 64 code is used in email to encode a sequence of 8-bit bytes as a
-longer sequence of @sc{ascii} graphic characters. This section
-describes the functions for converting to and from this code.
+longer sequence of @sc{ascii} graphic characters. It is defined in RFC
+2045. This section describes the functions for converting to and from
+this code.
@defun base64-encode-region beg end &optional no-line-break
@tindex base64-encode-region
-This function converts the region from @var{beg} to @var{end}
-into base 64 code. It returns the length of the encoded text.
+This function converts the region from @var{beg} to @var{end} into base
+64 code. It returns the length of the encoded text. An error is
+signaled if a character in the region is multibyte, i.e.@: in a
+multibyte buffer the region must contain only characters from the
+charsets @code{ascii}, @code{eight-bit-control} and
+@code{eight-bit-graphic}.
Normally, this function inserts newline characters into the encoded
text, to avoid overlong lines. However, if the optional argument
@defun base64-encode-string string &optional no-line-break
@tindex base64-encode-string
This function converts the string @var{string} into base 64 code. It
-returns a string containing the encoded text.
+returns a string containing the encoded text. As for
+@code{base64-encode-region}, an error is signaled if a character in the
+string is multibyte.
Normally, this function inserts newline characters into the encoded
text, to avoid overlong lines. However, if the optional argument