zachnicoll / txt-compressor

Compress any basic text file into a compressed file and dictionary! Beware - this is only effective with highly repetitive files...

C++ Text File Compressor

This small program uses a very basic algorithm to compress basic text files. After compressing a file, a .zac and .dict file is generated. The .zac file is the 'compressed' file, and the .dict file is the dictionary file used by the extraction algorithm to reconstruct the file. In order to properly restore a file, both the .zac and .dict file must be in the same directory.

Compiling Source Code

This program can be compiled with only one file: compressor.cpp. To compile on Windows I recommend Cygwin.

g++ -o compressor.exe compressor.cpp

Usage

When running the program, you'll be presented with an option to [E]xtract or [C]ompress a file:

Compress File

>>./compressor.exe
[E]xtract or [C]ompress a file:
C
Please enter the file to compress:
example.txt
Creating dictionary for 'example.txt'...
Compressing file 'example.txt'...
--SUCCESS--

Extract File

>>./compressor.exe
[E]xtract or [C]ompress a file:
E
Please enter the file to compress:
example.txt.zac
Reading file's dictionary...
Extracting 'example.txt.zac'...
--SUCCESS--