---
layout: docs
page_title: base64encode - Functions - Configuration Language
description: The base64encode function applies Base64 encoding to a string.
---

# `base64encode` Function

`base64encode` applies Base64 encoding to a string.

Nomad uses the "standard" Base64 alphabet as defined in
[RFC 4648 section 4](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-4).

Strings in the Nomad language are sequences of unicode characters rather
than bytes, so this function will first encode the characters from the string
as UTF-8, and then apply Base64 encoding to the result.

The Nomad language applies Unicode normalization to all strings, and so
passing a string through `base64decode` and then `base64encode` may not yield
the original result exactly.

## Examples

```shell-session
> base64encode("Hello World")
SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=
```

## Related Functions

- [`base64decode`](/nomad/docs/reference/hcl2/functions/encoding/base64decode) performs the opposite operation,
  decoding Base64 data and interpreting it as a UTF-8 string.