mysqlbinlog -v --base64-output=DECODE-ROWS /files/

I prefer to use

mysqlbinlog -v --base64-output=DECODE-ROWS /files/

because:

• "If no --base64-output option is given, the effect is the same as --base64-output=AUTO"
• "The combination of --base64-output=DECODE-ROWS and --verbose provides a convenient way to see row events only as SQL statements" (it surpresses the BINLOG statements)

"Specify --verbose or -v twice to also display data types and some metadata for each column."

Source of quotes: man mysqlbinlog