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Decode base45 string

We are trying to implement the verification of the new EU corona virus test/vaccination certificates, but can't get the base45 decoding working.

Specification is here: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-faltstrom-base45/

We nearly finished our class, but we sometimes get wrong values back..

Target is this:

Encoding example 1: The string "AB" is the byte sequence [65 66].
The 16 bit value is 65 * 256 + 66 = 16706. 16706 equals 11 + 45 * 11
+ 45 * 45 * 8 so the sequence in base 45 is [11 11 8].  By looking up
these values in the Table 1 we get the encoded string "BB8".

Encoding example 2: The string "Hello!!" as ASCII is the byte
sequence [72 101 108 108 111 33 33].  If we look at each 16 bit
value, it is [18533 27756 28449 33].  Note the 33 for the last byte.
When looking at the values modulo 45, we get [[38 6 9] [36 31 13] [9
2 14] [33 0]] where the last byte is represented by two.  By looking
up these values in the Table 1 we get the encoded string "%69
VD92EX0".

Encoding example 3: The string "base-45" as ASCII is the byte
sequence [98 97 115 101 45 52 53].  If we look at each 16 bit value,
it is [25185 29541 11572 53].  Note the 53 for the last byte.  When
looking at the values modulo 45, we get [[30 19 12] [21 26 14] [7 32
5] [8 1]] where the last byte is represented by two.  By looking up
these values in the Table 1 we get the encoded string "UJCLQE7W581".

Here is my current code, which produces wrong values:

class Base45

  ALPHABET = {
    "00" => "0",
    "01" => "1",
    "02" => "2",
    "03" => "3",
    "04" => "4",
    "05" => "5",
    "06" => "6",
    "07" => "7",
    "08" => "8",
    "09" => "9",
    "10" => "A",
    "11" => "B",
    "12" => "C",
    "13" => "D",
    "14" => "E",
    "15" => "F",
    "16" => "G",
    "17" => "H",
    "18" => "I",
    "19" => "J",
    "20" => "K",
    "21" => "L",
    "22" => "M",
    "23" => "N",
    "24" => "O",
    "25" => "P",
    "26" => "Q",
    "27" => "R",
    "28" => "S",
    "29" => "T",
    "30" => "U",
    "31" => "V",
    "32" => "W",
    "33" => "X",
    "34" => "Y",
    "35" => "Z",
    "36" => " ",
    "37" => "$",
    "38" => "%",
    "39" => "*",
    "40" => "+",
    "41" => "-",
    "42" => ".",
    "43" => "/",
    "44" => ":"
  }.freeze

  def self.encode_base45(text)
    restsumme = text.unpack('S>*')

    # not sure what this is doing, but without it, it works worse :D
    restsumme << text.bytes[-1] if text.bytes.size > 2 && text.bytes[-1] < 256

    bytearr = restsumme.map do |bytes|
      arr = []
      multiplier, rest = bytes.divmod(45**2)
      arr << multiplier if multiplier > 0

      multiplier, rest = rest.divmod(45)
      arr << multiplier if multiplier > 0
      arr << rest if rest > 0
      arr.reverse
    end
    return bytearr.flatten.map{|a| ALPHABET[a.to_s.rjust(2, "0")]}.join
  end

  def self.decode_base45(text)
    arr = text.split("").map do |char|
      ALPHABET.invert[char]
    end
    textarr = arr.each_slice(3).to_a.map do |group|
      subarr = group.map.with_index do |val, index|
        val.to_i * (45**index)
      end
      ap subarr
      subarr.sum
    end

    return textarr.pack("S>*") # returns wrong values
  end
end

Results:

Base45.encode_base45("AB")
=> "BB8" # works
Base45.decode_base45("BB8")
=> "AB" # works

Base45.encode_base45("Hello!!")
=> "%69 VD92EX" # works
Base45.decode_base45("BB8")
=> "Hello!\x00!" # wrong \x00


Base45.encode_base45("base-45")
=> "UJCLQE7W581" # works
Base45.decode_base45("UJCLQE7W581")
=> "base-4\x005" # wrong \x00

Any hints appreciated :(

over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo
3 answers
Answer question

0

It might not be a proper solution to the problem here.

But adding textarr.pack("S>*").gsub(/\x00/, "") solved the problem for the given decoding examples. Also it's really weird that your encode version didn't work well for me (had wrong results in two first examples).

Anyway, this thread led me to contribute a bit by making this as a gem.

over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report

0

if you'd like a bodgy way of doing this:

return textarr.map{|x| x<256 ? [x].pack("C*") : [x].pack("n*") }.join

looking at this scheme, it feels like a weird way to encode, as we're working with numbers ... if it were me, I'd have started at the tail of the string and worked towards the head, but that's because we're using numbers.

anyway, the reason that my bodge works is that it treats small elements/numbers as 8-bit unsigned instead of 16-bit unsigned.

...

slightly more pleasing to the eye, but probably no better:

def self.decode_base45(text)
  arr = text.split("").map do |char|
    ALPHABET.invert[char]
  end
  textarr = arr.each_slice(3).to_a.map do |group|
    subarr = group.map.with_index do |val, index|
      val.to_i * (45**index)
    end
    ap subarr
    subarr.sum.divmod(256)
  end.flatten.reject(&:zero?)

  return textarr.pack("C*") # returns wrong values
end
over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report

0

After struggling to get the other answers to work, I made my own method based on your question and this snippet. Abovementioned answers worked in most cases but not in all of them, especially when the string length mod 3 = 2.

class Base45
  ALPHABET = {
    0 => "0",
    1 => "1",
    2 => "2",
    3 => "3",
    4 => "4",
    5 => "5",
    6 => "6",
    7 => "7",
    8 => "8",
    9 => "9",
    10 => "A",
    11 => "B",
    12 => "C",
    13 => "D",
    14 => "E",
    15 => "F",
    16 => "G",
    17 => "H",
    18 => "I",
    19 => "J",
    20 => "K",
    21 => "L",
    22 => "M",
    23 => "N",
    24 => "O",
    25 => "P",
    26 => "Q",
    27 => "R",
    28 => "S",
    29 => "T",
    30 => "U",
    31 => "V",
    32 => "W",
    33 => "X",
    34 => "Y",
    35 => "Z",
    36 => " ",
    37 => "$",
    38 => "%",
    39 => "*",
    40 => "+",
    41 => "-",
    42 => ".",
    43 => "/",
    44 => ":"
  }.freeze

  def self.decode_base45(text)
    raise ArgumentError, "invalid base45 string" if text.size % 3 == 1

    arr = text.split("").map do |char|
      ALPHABET.invert[char]
    end

    arr.each_slice(3).to_a.map do |group|
      if group.size == 3
        x = group[0] + group[1] * 45 + group[2] * 45 * 45
        raise ArgumentError, "invalid base45 string" if x > 0xFFFF
        x.divmod(256)
      else
        x = group[0] + group[1] * 45
        raise ArgumentError, "invalid base45 string" if x > 0xFF
        x
      end
    end.flatten.pack("C*")
  end
end
over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report
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