<doc>

<legacy_id>2283</legacy_id>

<name>compress</name>

<type>function</type>

<syntax>

<example>the compress of <i>data</i></example>

<example>compress(<i>data</i>)</example>

</syntax>

<library></library>

<objects>

</objects>

<synonyms>

</synonyms>

<classification>

<category>Text and Data Processing</category>

</classification>

<references>

<function tag="decompress">decompress Function</function>

</references>

<history>

<introduced version="1.0">Added.</introduced>

</history>

<platforms>

<mac/>

<windows/>

<linux/>

<ios/>

<android/>

</platforms>

<classes>

<desktop/>

<server/>

<web/>

<mobile/>

</classes>

<security>

</security>

<summary><glossary tag="return">Returns</glossary> a gzip-compressed <keyword tag="string">string</keyword>.</summary>

<examples>

<example>compress(URL "file:image.pict")</example>

<example>put compress(field "Outgoing") into URL "binfile:data.gz"</example>

</examples>

<description>

<p>Use the <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st> to <function tag="compress">compress</function> data to a smaller size for transmission.</p><p/><p><b>Parameters:</b></p><p>The <i>data</i> is a <keyword tag="string">string</keyword> of <glossary tag="binary data">binary data</glossary> of any length.</p><p/><p><b>Value:</b></p><p>The <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st> <glossary tag="return">returns</glossary> a <keyword tag="string">string</keyword> of <glossary tag="binary data">binary data</glossary>.</p><p/><p><b>Comments:</b></p><p>The <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st> is the <keyword tag="inverse">inverse</keyword> of the <function tag="decompress">decompress</function> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st>.</p><p/><p>The compressed result is typically about half to a third the size of the original data, although different results may be obtained depending on the amount of data and whether it has already been compressed.</p><p/><p><img src="202653"/> <b>Important!</b> The value <glossary tag="return">returned</glossary> by the <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st> consists of <glossary tag="binary data">binary data</glossary> and may include control characters, so displaying it on screen or trying to edit it may produce unexpected results. If you use a <keyword tag="URL">URL</keyword> to place the <glossary tag="return">returned</glossary> data in a <keyword tag="file">file</keyword>, it's important to use the <keyword tag="binfile">binfile</keyword> <keyword tag="URL">URL</keyword> scheme; using the <keyword tag="file">file</keyword> <keyword tag="URL">URL</keyword> scheme will corrupt <glossary tag="binary data">binary data</glossary>.</p><p/><p>For technical information about the format used by the <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st>, see RFC 1952 at &lt;<u>http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1952.txt</u>&gt;. The <b>compress</b> <control_st tag="function">function</control_st> uses the zlib compression library.</p>

</description>

</doc>