compress

compress [options] [files]

Reduce the size of one or more files using adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding and move to file.Z. Restore with uncompress or zcat.

With a filename of -, or with no files, compress reads standard input.

Note: Unisys claims a patent on the algorithm used by compress. Today, gzip is generally preferred for file compression.

Options

-bn

Limit the number of bits in coding to n; n is 9-16, and 16 is the default. A lower n produces a larger, less densely compressed file.

-c

Write to the standard output (do not change files).

-f

Compress unconditionally; i.e., do not prompt before overwriting files. Also, compress files even if the resulting file would actually be larger.

-v

Print the resulting percentage of reduction for files.