COMPRESS(1) COMPRESS(1)
NAME
compress, uncompress, zcat - compress and expand data
SYNOPSIS
compress [ -f ] [ -v ] [ -c ] [ -b bits ] [ name ... ]
uncompress [ -f ] [ -v ] [ -c ] [ name ... ]
zcat [ name ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Compress reduces the size of the named(5,8) files using adaptive Lempel-Ziv
coding. Whenever possible, each file(1,n) is replaced by one with the
extension .Z, while keeping the same ownership modes, access(2,5) and modi-
fication times. If no files are specified, the standard input is com-
pressed to the standard output. Compressed files can be restored to
their original form using uncompress or zcat.
The -f option will force compression of name, even if(3,n) it does not actu-
ally shrink or the corresponding name.Z file(1,n) already exists. Except
when run in(1,8) the background under /bin/sh, if(3,n) -f is not given the user
is prompted as to whether an existing name.Z file(1,n) should be overwrit-
ten.
The -c (``cat'') option makes compress/uncompress write(1,2) to the standard
output; no files are changed. The nondestructive behavior of zcat is
identical to that of uncompress -c.
Compress uses the modified Lempel-Ziv algorithm popularized in(1,8) "A Tech-
nique for High Performance Data Compression", Terry A. Welch, IEEE Com-
puter, vol. 17, no. 6 (June 1984), pp. 8-19. Common substrings in(1,8) the
file(1,n) are first replaced by 9-bit codes 257 and up. When code 512 is
reached, the algorithm switches to 10-bit codes and continues to use
more bits until the limit specified by the -b flag is reached (default
16). Bits must be between 9 and 16. The default can be changed in(1,8) the
source to allow compress to be run on a smaller machine.
After the bits limit is attained, compress periodically checks the com-
pression ratio. If it is increasing, compress continues to use the
existing code dictionary. However, if(3,n) the compression ratio decreases,
compress discards the table of substrings and rebuilds it from scratch.
This allows the algorithm to adapt to the next "block" of the file.
Note that the -b flag is omitted for uncompress, since the bits parame-
ter specified during compression is encoded within the output, along
with a magic(4,5) number to ensure that neither decompression of random(3,4,6) data
nor recompression of compressed data is attempted.
The amount of compression obtained depends on the size of the input,
the number of bits per code, and the distribution of common substrings.
Typically, text such as source code or English is reduced by 50-60%.
Compression is generally much better than that achieved by Huffman cod-
ing (as used in(1,8) pack(3,n,n pack-old)), or adaptive Huffman coding (compact), and takes
less(1,3) time(1,2,n) to compute.
The -v option causes the printing of the percentage reduction of each
file.
If an error(8,n) occurs, exit(3,n,1 builtins) status is 1, else if(3,n) the last file(1,n) was not
compressed because it became larger, the status is 2; else the status
is 0.
DIAGNOSTICS
Usage: compress [-fvc] [-b maxbits] [file(1,n) ...]
Invalid options were specified on the command line.
Missing maxbits
Maxbits must follow -b.
file(1,n): not in(1,8) compressed format
The file(1,n) specified to uncompress has not been compressed.
file(1,n): compressed with xx bits, can only handle yy bits
File was compressed by a program that could deal with more bits
than the compress code on this machine. Recompress the file(1,n)
with smaller bits.
file(1,n): already has .Z suffix -- no change
The file(1,n) is assumed to be already compressed. Rename the file(1,n)
and try again.
file(1,n): filename too long to tack on .Z
The file(1,n) cannot be compressed because its name is longer than
12 characters. Rename and try again. This message does not
occur on BSD systems.
file(1,n) already exists; do you wish to overwrite (y or n)?
Respond "y" if(3,n) you want the output file(1,n) to be replaced; "n" if(3,n)
not.
uncompress: corrupt input
A SIGSEGV violation was detected which usually means that the
input file(1,n) is corrupted.
Compression: xx.xx%
Percentage of the input saved by compression. (Relevant only
for -v.)
-- not a regular file: unchanged
When the input file(1,n) is not a regular file(1,n), (e.g. a directory),
it is left unaltered.
-- has xx other links: unchanged
The input file(1,n) has links; it is left unchanged. See ln(1) for
more information.
-- file(1,n) unchanged
No savings is achieved by compression. The input remains vir-
gin.
BUGS
Although compressed files are compatible between machines with large
memory, -b12 should be used for file(1,n) transfer to architectures with a
small process data space (64KB or less(1,3), as exhibited by the DEC PDP
series, the Intel 80286, etc.)
compress should be more flexible about the existence of the `.Z' suf-
fix.
4.3 Berkeley Distribution October 15, 1988 COMPRESS(1)