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| Chapter 2 UNIX Commands |

## compress

    compress [options] [files]

Reduce the size of one or more `files` using adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding, and move to `file`.Z. Restore with uncompress or zcat.

### Options

-b`n`

  Limit the number of bits in coding to `n`; `n` is 9-16, and 16 is the default. A lower `n` produces a larger, less densely compressed file.

-c

  Write to the standard output (do not change files).

-f

  Compress unconditionally; i.e., do not prompt before overwriting files.

-v

  Print the resulting percentage of reduction for `files`.

Reference: comm |  | Reference: cp