compress—compress, uncompress, zcat compress, uncompress files, or display expanded files

compress [ –cfv ] [ –b bits ] [ filename... ]uncompress [ –cv ] [ filename... ]zcat [ filename... ]

compress reduces the size of the named files using adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding. Whenever possible, each file is replaced by one with a .Z extension. The ownership modes, access time, and modification time will stay the same. If no files are specified, the standard input is compressed to the standard output.

Example A.11.
1   compress -v book
    book:Compression:35.07% -- replaced with book.Z
2   ls
    book.Z

EXPLANATION

  1. Compresses the book into a file called book.Z and displays the percentage that the file was compressed and its new name.

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