NAME

IO::Deflate - Perl interface to write RFC 1950 files/buffers

SYNOPSIS

use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;


my $status = deflate $input => $output [,OPTS] 
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

my $z = new IO::Deflate $output [,OPTS]
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

$z->print($string);
$z->printf($format, $string);
$z->write($string);
$z->syswrite($string [, $length, $offset]);
$z->flush();
$z->tell();
$z->eof();
$z->seek($position, $whence);
$z->binmode();
$z->fileno();
$z->newStream();
$z->deflateParams();
$z->close() ;

$DeflateError ;

# IO::File mode

print $z $string;
printf $z $format, $string;
syswrite $z, $string [, $length, $offset];
flush $z, ;
tell $z
eof $z
seek $z, $position, $whence
binmode $z
fileno $z
close $z ;

DESCRIPTION

WARNING -- This is a Beta release.

DO NOT use in production code.
The documentation is incomplete in places.
Parts of the interface defined here are tentative.
Please report any problems you find.

This module provides a Perl interface that allows writing compressed data to files or buffer as defined in RFC 1950.

For reading RFC 1950 files/buffers, see the companion module IO::Inflate.

Functional Interface

A top-level function, deflate, is provided to carry out "one-shot" compression between buffers and/or files. For finer control over the compression process, see the "OO Interface" section.

use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;

deflate $input => $output [,OPTS] 
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

deflate \%hash [,OPTS] 
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

The functional interface needs Perl5.005 or better.

deflate $input => $output [, OPTS]

If the first parameter is not a hash reference deflate expects at least two parameters, $input and $output.

The `$input` parameter

The parameter, $input, is used to define the source of the uncompressed data.

It can take one of the following forms:

A filename

If the $input parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for reading and the input data will be read from it.

A filehandle

If the $input parameter is a filehandle, the input data will be read from it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard input.

A scalar reference

If $input is a scalar reference, the input data will be read from $$input.

An array reference

If $input is an array reference, the input data will be read from each element of the array in turn. The action taken by deflate with each element of the array will depend on the type of data stored in it. You can mix and match any of the types defined in this list, excluding other array or hash references. The complete array will be walked to ensure that it only contains valid data types before any data is compressed.

An Input FileGlob string

If $input is a string that is delimited by the characters "<" and ">" deflate will assume that it is an input fileglob string. The input is the list of files that match the fileglob.

If the fileglob does not match any files ...

See File::GlobMapper for more details.

If the $input parameter is any other type, undef will be returned.

The `$output` parameter

The parameter $output is used to control the destination of the compressed data. This parameter can take one of these forms.

A filename

If the $output parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for writing and the compressed data will be written to it.

A filehandle

If the $output parameter is a filehandle, the compressed data will be written to it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard output.

A scalar reference

If $output is a scalar reference, the compressed data will be stored in $$output.

A Hash Reference

If $output is a hash reference, the compressed data will be written to $output{$input} as a scalar reference.

When $output is a hash reference, $input must be either a filename or list of filenames. Anything else is an error.

An Array Reference

If $output is an array reference, the compressed data will be pushed onto the array.

An Output FileGlob

If $output is a string that is delimited by the characters "<" and ">" deflate will assume that it is an output fileglob string. The output is the list of files that match the fileglob.

When $output is an fileglob string, $input must also be a fileglob string. Anything else is an error.

If the $output parameter is any other type, undef will be returned.

deflate \%hash [, OPTS]

If the first parameter is a hash reference, \%hash, this will be used to define both the source of uncompressed data and to control where the compressed data is output. Each key/value pair in the hash defines a mapping between an input filename, stored in the key, and an output file/buffer, stored in the value. Although the input can only be a filename, there is more flexibility to control the destination of the compressed data. This is determined by the type of the value. Valid types are

undef: If the value is undef the compressed data will be written to the value as a scalar reference.
A filename: If the value is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for writing and the compressed data will be written to it.
A filehandle: If the value is a filehandle, the compressed data will be written to it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard output.
A scalar reference: If the value is a scalar reference, the compressed data will be stored in the buffer that is referenced by the scalar.
A Hash Reference: If the value is a hash reference, the compressed data will be written to $hash{$input} as a scalar reference.
An Array Reference: If $output is an array reference, the compressed data will be pushed onto the array.

Any other type is a error.

Notes

When $input maps to multiple files/buffers and $output is a single file/buffer the compressed input files/buffers will all be stored in $output as a single compressed stream.

Optional Parameters

Unless specified below, the optional parameters for deflate, OPTS, are the same as those used with the OO interface defined in the "Constructor Options" section below.

AutoClose => 0|1

This option applies to any input or output data streams to deflate that are filehandles.

If AutoClose is specified, and the value is true, it will result in all input and/or output filehandles being closed once deflate has completed.

This parameter defaults to 0.

-Append => 0|1

TODO

Examples

To read the contents of the file file1.txt and write the compressed data to the file file1.txt.1950.

use strict ;
use warnings ;
use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;

my $input = "file1.txt";
deflate $input => "$input.1950"
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

To read from an existing Perl filehandle, $input, and write the compressed data to a buffer, $buffer.

use strict ;
use warnings ;
use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;
use IO::File ;

my $input = new IO::File "<file1.txt"
    or die "Cannot open 'file1.txt': $!\n" ;
my $buffer ;
deflate $input => \$buffer 
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

To compress all files in the directory "/my/home" that match "*.txt" and store the compressed data in the same directory

use strict ;
use warnings ;
use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;

deflate '</my/home/*.txt>' => '<*.1950>'
    or die "deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

and if you want to compress each file one at a time, this will do the trick

use strict ;
use warnings ;
use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError) ;

for my $input ( glob "/my/home/*.txt" )
{
    my $output = "$input.1950" ;
    deflate $input => $output 
        or die "Error compressing '$input': $DeflateError\n";
}

OO Interface

Constructor

The format of the constructor for IO::Deflate is shown below

my $z = new IO::Deflate $output [,OPTS]
    or die "IO::Deflate failed: $DeflateError\n";

It returns an IO::Deflate object on success and undef on failure. The variable $DeflateError will contain an error message on failure.

If you are running Perl 5.005 or better the object, $z, returned from IO::Deflate can be used exactly like an IO::File filehandle. This means that all normal output file operations can be carried out with $z. For example, to write to a compressed file/buffer you can use either of these forms

$z->print("hello world\n");
print $z "hello world\n";

The mandatory parameter $output is used to control the destination of the compressed data. This parameter can take one of these forms.

A filename: If the $output parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for writing and the compressed data will be written to it.
A filehandle: If the $output parameter is a filehandle, the compressed data will be written to it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard output.
A scalar reference: If $output is a scalar reference, the compressed data will be stored in $$output.

If the $output parameter is any other type, IO::Deflate::new will return undef.

Constructor Options

OPTS is any combination of the following options:

-AutoClose => 0|1

This option is only valid when the $output parameter is a filehandle. If specified, and the value is true, it will result in the $output being closed once either the close method is called or the IO::Deflate object is destroyed.

This parameter defaults to 0.

-Append => 0|1

Opens $output in append mode.

The behaviour of this option is dependant on the type of $output.

A Buffer

If $output is a buffer and Append is enabled, all compressed data will be append to the end if $output. Otherwise $output will be cleared before any data is written to it.
A Filename

If $output is a filename and Append is enabled, the file will be opened in append mode. Otherwise the contents of the file, if any, will be truncated before any compressed data is written to it.
A Filehandle

If $output is a filehandle, the file pointer will be positioned to the end of the file via a call to seek before any compressed data is written to it. Otherwise the file pointer will not be moved.

This parameter defaults to 0.

-Merge => 0|1

This option is used to compress input data and append it to an existing compressed data stream in $output. The end result is a single compressed data stream stored in $output.

It is a fatal error to attempt to use this option when $output is not an RFC 1950 data stream.

There are a number of other limitations with the Merge option:

This module needs to have been built with zlib 1.2.1 or better to work. A fatal error will be thrown if Merge is used with an older version of zlib.
If $output is a file or a filehandle, it must be seekable.

This parameter defaults to 0.

-Level

Defines the compression level used by zlib. The value should either be a number between 0 and 9 (0 means no compression and 9 is maximum compression), or one of the symbolic constants defined below.

Z_NO_COMPRESSION
Z_BEST_SPEED
Z_BEST_COMPRESSION
Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION

The default is Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION.

Note, these constants are not imported by IO::Deflate by default.

use IO::Deflate qw(:strategy);
use IO::Deflate qw(:constants);
use IO::Deflate qw(:all);

-Strategy

Defines the strategy used to tune the compression. Use one of the symbolic constants defined below.

Z_FILTERED
Z_HUFFMAN_ONLY
Z_RLE
Z_FIXED
Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY

The default is Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY.

-Strict => 0|1

This is a placeholder option.

Examples

TODO

Methods

print

Usage is

$z->print($data)
print $z $data

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter. This has the same behavior as the print built-in.

Returns true if successful.

printf

Usage is

$z->printf($format, $data)
printf $z $format, $data

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns true if successful.

syswrite

Usage is

$z->syswrite $data
$z->syswrite $data, $length
$z->syswrite $data, $length, $offset

syswrite $z, $data
syswrite $z, $data, $length
syswrite $z, $data, $length, $offset

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns the number of uncompressed bytes written, or undef if unsuccessful.

write

Usage is

$z->write $data
$z->write $data, $length
$z->write $data, $length, $offset

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns the number of uncompressed bytes written, or undef if unsuccessful.

flush

Usage is

$z->flush;
$z->flush($flush_type);
flush $z ;
flush $z $flush_type;

Flushes any pending compressed data to the output file/buffer.

This method takes an optional parameter, $flush_type, that controls how the flushing will be carried out. By default the $flush_type used is Z_FINISH. Other valid values for $flush_type are Z_NO_FLUSH, Z_SYNC_FLUSH, Z_FULL_FLUSH and Z_BLOCK. It is strongly recommended that you only set the flush_type parameter if you fully understand the implications of what it does - overuse of flush can seriously degrade the level of compression achieved. See the zlib documentation for details.

Returns true on success.

tell

Usage is

$z->tell()
tell $z

Returns the uncompressed file offset.

eof

Usage is

$z->eof();
eof($z);

Returns true if the close method has been called.

seek

$z->seek($position, $whence);
seek($z, $position, $whence);

Provides a sub-set of the seek functionality, with the restriction that it is only legal to seek forward in the output file/buffer. It is a fatal error to attempt to seek backward.

Empty parts of the file/buffer will have NULL (0x00) bytes written to them.

The $whence parameter takes one the usual values, namely SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR or SEEK_END.

Returns 1 on success, 0 on failure.

binmode

Usage is

$z->binmode
binmode $z ;

This is a noop provided for completeness.

fileno

$z->fileno()
fileno($z)

If the $z object is associated with a file, this method will return the underlying filehandle.

If the $z object is is associated with a buffer, this method will return undef.

close

$z->close() ;
close $z ;

Flushes any pending compressed data and then closes the output file/buffer.

For most versions of Perl this method will be automatically invoked if the IO::Deflate object is destroyed (either explicitly or by the variable with the reference to the object going out of scope). The exceptions are Perl versions 5.005 through 5.00504 and 5.8.0. In these cases, the close method will be called automatically, but not until global destruction of all live objects when the program is terminating.

Therefore, if you want your scripts to be able to run on all versions of Perl, you should call close explicitly and not rely on automatic closing.

Returns true on success, otherwise 0.

If the AutoClose option has been enabled when the IO::Deflate object was created, and the object is associated with a file, the underlying file will also be closed.

newStream

Usage is

$z->newStream

TODO

deflateParams

Usage is

$z->deflateParams

TODO

Importing

A number of symbolic constants are required by some methods in IO::Deflate. None are imported by default.

:all

Imports deflate, $DeflateError and all symbolic constants that can be used by IO::Deflate. Same as doing this

use IO::Deflate qw(deflate $DeflateError :constants) ;

:constants

Import all symbolic constants. Same as doing this

use IO::Deflate qw(:flush :level :strategy) ;

:flush

These symbolic constants are used by the flush method.

Z_NO_FLUSH
Z_PARTIAL_FLUSH
Z_SYNC_FLUSH
Z_FULL_FLUSH
Z_FINISH
Z_BLOCK

:level

These symbolic constants are used by the Level option in the constructor.

Z_NO_COMPRESSION
Z_BEST_SPEED
Z_BEST_COMPRESSION
Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION

:strategy

These symbolic constants are used by the Strategy option in the constructor.

Z_FILTERED
Z_HUFFMAN_ONLY
Z_RLE
Z_FIXED
Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY

For

EXAMPLES

TODO

AUTHOR

The IO::Deflate module was written by Paul Marquess, pmqs@cpan.org. The latest copy of the module can be found on CPAN in modules/by-module/Compress/Compress-Zlib-x.x.tar.gz.

The zlib compression library was written by Jean-loup Gailly gzip@prep.ai.mit.edu and Mark Adler madler@alumni.caltech.edu.

The primary site for the zlib compression library is http://www.zlib.org.

MODIFICATION HISTORY

See the Changes file.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

To install Compress::Zlib, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Compress::Zlib

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Compress::Zlib

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Functional Interface

deflate $input => $output [, OPTS]

The $input parameter

The $output parameter

deflate \%hash [, OPTS]

Notes

Optional Parameters

Examples

OO Interface

Constructor

Constructor Options

Examples

Methods

print

printf

syswrite

write

flush

tell

eof

seek

binmode

fileno

close

newStream

deflateParams

Importing

EXAMPLES

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

MODIFICATION HISTORY

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Module Install Instructions

The `$input` parameter

The `$output` parameter