COMPACT(1)                           BSD                            COMPACT(1)



NAME
     compact, uncompact, ccat - compress and uncompress files, and then cat
     them

SYNOPSIS
     compact [ name ...  ]
     uncompact [ name ...  ]
     ccat [ file ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
     NOTE: The compact command is obsolete; it has been replaced by
     compress(1).  The uncompact command is provided to allow you to restore
     files compressed by compact.

     compact compresses the named files using an adaptive Huffman code.  If
     you do not specify a filename, compact compacts the standard input to the
     standard output.  compact operates as an on-line algorithm.  Each time a
     byte is read, it is encoded immediately according to the current prefix
     code.  This code is an optimal Huffman code for the set of frequencies
     seen so far.  You do not need  to prefix a decoding tree to the
     compressed file, since the encoder and the decoder start in the same
     state and stay synchronized.  Furthermore, compact and uncompact can
     operate as filters.  In particular,

               ... | compact | uncompact |

     operates as a very slow no-op.

     When you specify an argument file, compact compacts it, places the
     resulting file in file.C, and removes file.  The first two bytes of the
     compacted file code the fact that the file is compacted.  This code is
     used to prohibit recompaction.

     The amount of compression to be expected depends on the type of file
     being compressed.  Typical compression values are text (38%), Pascal
     source (43%), C source (36%), and binary (19%).  These values are the
     percentages of file bytes reduced.

     uncompact restores the original file from a file compressed by compact.
     If you do not specify a filename, uncompact uncompacts the standard input
     to the standard output.

     ccat concatenates the original file from a file compressed by compact,
     without uncompressing the file.

BUGS
     The last segment of the filename must contain fewer than 30 characters to
     allow space for the .C that is appended.

FILES
     *.C       Compacted file created by compact, removed by uncompact

SEE ALSO
     compress(1)