base58

The base58 library provides predicates for encoding and decoding data in the Base58 format using the Bitcoin alphabet variant. Base58 is commonly used in Bitcoin addresses and other cryptocurrency applications. The Bitcoin alphabet excludes visually ambiguous characters:

  • 0 (zero), O (uppercase o)

  • I (uppercase i), l (lowercase L)

Alphabet: 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz

For more details, see for example:

https://bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/base58

This library requires a backend supporting unbounded integer arithmetic.

API documentation

Open the ../../apis/library_index.html#base58 link in a web browser.

Loading

To load all entities in this library, load the loader.lgt utility file:

| ?- logtalk_load(base58(loader)).

Testing

To test this library predicates, load the tester.lgt file:

| ?- logtalk_load(base58(tester)).

Encoding

Encoding a list of bytes in Base58 format is accomplished by the base58::generate/2 predicate. For example:

| ?- atom_codes('Hello World', Bytes),
     base58::generate(atom(Base58), Bytes).
Base58 = 'JxF12TrwUP45BMd'
Bytes = [72,101,108,108,111,32,87,111,114,108,100]
yes

Leading zero bytes are preserved and encoded as ‘1’ characters:

| ?- base58::generate(atom(Base58), [0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 3]).
Base58 = '111Ldp'
yes

Decoding

Decoding of Base58 data is accomplished using the base58::parse/2 predicate. For example:

| ?- base58::parse(atom('JxF12TrwUP45BMd'), Bytes),
     atom_codes(Atom, Bytes).
Atom = 'Hello World'
Bytes = [72,101,108,108,111,32,87,111,114,108,100]
yes