Package org.bitcoinj.core

Class Base58

  • public class Base58
extends java.lang.Object
    Base58 is a way to encode Bitcoin addresses (or arbitrary data) as alphanumeric strings.

    Note that this is not the same base58 as used by Flickr, which you may find referenced around the Internet.

    You may want to consider working with PrefixedChecksummedBytes instead, which adds support for testing the prefix and suffix bytes commonly found in addresses.

    Satoshi explains: why base-58 instead of standard base-64 encoding?

    • Don't want 0OIl characters that look the same in some fonts and could be used to create visually identical looking account numbers.
    • A string with non-alphanumeric characters is not as easily accepted as an account number.
    • E-mail usually won't line-break if there's no punctuation to break at.
    • Doubleclicking selects the whole number as one word if it's all alphanumeric.

    However, note that the encoding/decoding runs in O(n²) time, so it is not useful for large data.

    The basic idea of the encoding is to treat the data bytes as a large number represented using base-256 digits, convert the number to be represented using base-58 digits, preserve the exact number of leading zeros (which are otherwise lost during the mathematical operations on the numbers), and finally represent the resulting base-58 digits as alphanumeric ASCII characters.

    • Field Summary

      Fields 
      Modifier and Type Field Description
      static char[] ALPHABET  

    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      Base58()  

    • Method Summary

      All Methods Static Methods Concrete Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      static byte[] decode​(java.lang.String input)
      Decodes the given base58 string into the original data bytes.
      static byte[] decodeChecked​(java.lang.String input)
      Decodes the given base58 string into the original data bytes, using the checksum in the last 4 bytes of the decoded data to verify that the rest are correct.
      static java.math.BigInteger decodeToBigInteger​(java.lang.String input)  
      static java.lang.String encode​(byte[] input)
      Encodes the given bytes as a base58 string (no checksum is appended).
      static java.lang.String encodeChecked​(int version, byte[] payload)
      Encodes the given version and bytes as a base58 string.

      • Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

        clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

    • Field Detail

      • ALPHABET

        public static final char[] ALPHABET

    • Constructor Detail

      • Base58

        public Base58()

    • Method Detail

      • encode

        public static java.lang.String encode​(byte[] input)
        Encodes the given bytes as a base58 string (no checksum is appended).
        Parameters:
        input - the bytes to encode
        Returns:
        the base58-encoded string

      • encodeChecked

        public static java.lang.String encodeChecked​(int version,
                                             byte[] payload)
        Encodes the given version and bytes as a base58 string. A checksum is appended.
        Parameters:
        version - the version to encode
        payload - the bytes to encode, e.g. pubkey hash
        Returns:
        the base58-encoded string

      • decode

        public static byte[] decode​(java.lang.String input)
                     throws AddressFormatException
        Decodes the given base58 string into the original data bytes.
        Parameters:
        input - the base58-encoded string to decode
        Returns:
        the decoded data bytes
        Throws:
        AddressFormatException - if the given string is not a valid base58 string

      • decodeChecked

        public static byte[] decodeChecked​(java.lang.String input)
                            throws AddressFormatException
        Decodes the given base58 string into the original data bytes, using the checksum in the last 4 bytes of the decoded data to verify that the rest are correct. The checksum is removed from the returned data.
        Parameters:
        input - the base58-encoded string to decode (which should include the checksum)
        Throws:
        AddressFormatException - if the input is not base 58 or the checksum does not validate.