# compress(1)

    NAME
         compress, uncompress, zcat - compress a file  using  modified  Lempel-Ziv
         coding

    SYNOPSIS
         compress [-cdfv] [file] ...

    OPTIONS

         -c   Put output on stdout instead of on file.Z

         -d   Decompress instead of compress

         -f   Force output even if there is no saving

         -v   Verbose mode

    EXAMPLES

         compress <infile >outfile
                             # Compress 1 file

         compress x y z      # Compress 3 files to x.Z, y.Z, and z.Z

         compress -d file.Z  # Decompress file.Z to file

    DESCRIPTION

         The listed files (or stdin, if none are given) are compressed  using  the
         Ziv-Lempel  algorithm.   If  the  output  is  smaller than the input, the
         output is put on file.Z or stdout if no files are listed. If compress  is
         linked  to  uncompress,  the  latter  is  the same as giving the -d flag.
         Similarly, a link to zcat decompresses to stdout.  The MINIX  version  of
         compress uses 13-bit compression.  This means that when compressing files
         on other systems for transmission to MINIX,  be  sure  that  only  13-bit
         compression is used.  On many systems, the default is 16-bit (too big).

    SEE ALSO
         tar(1).