Compress::LZW -- Pure perl implementation of LZW

This module does not yet support compress(1)'s .Z files!! Nor is its interface stable. Hence the alpha status. Expect support to come soon.

Read above once more :)

  use Compress::LZW;

  my $compressed = compress($fatdata);
  my $fatdata    = decompress($compressed);

  my $smallcompressed = compress($thindata, 12);
  my $thindata        = decompress($smallcompressed, 12);

Compress::LZW it a perl implementation of the newly free LZW compression algorithm. It defaults to building a 16-bit codeword table, but provides the ability to choose a 12-bit table also. Depending on the size of your data, the 12-bit table may provide better compression.

compress

Takes a string as its first argument, and returns the compressed result. You can also specify the size of your codeword table in @_[1], choosing either 12 or 16. 16 is the default. compress will

decompress

Takes a string as its first argument, and returns the decompressed result. You can also specify the size of your codeword table in @_[1], choosing either 12 or 16. 16 is the default.

Compress::LZW exports: compress decompress That's all.

Other Compress::* modules, especially Compress::LZV1, Compress::LZF and Compress::Zlib.

Sean O'Rourke, <seano@cpan.org> - Original author, Compress::SelfExtracting

Matt Howard <mhoward@hattmoward.org> - Compress::LZW

Bug reports welcome, patches even more welcome.

Copyright (C) 2003 Sean O'Rourke & Matt Howard. All rights reserved, some wrongs reversed. This module is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself. Let me know if you actually find it useful.

MH: Also, credit to Rocco Caputo for a 2nd implementation to study. Thanks!