xz $input_filename_or_reference => $output_filename_or_reference [, OPTS]

The $input_filename_or_reference parameter

The parameter, $input_filename_or_reference, is used to define the source of the uncompressed data.

It can take one of the following forms:

A filename

If the $input_filename_or_reference parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for reading and the input data will be read from it.

A filehandle

If the $input_filename_or_reference parameter is a filehandle, the input data will be read from it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard input.

A scalar reference

If $input_filename_or_reference is a scalar reference, the input data will be read from $$input_filename_or_reference.

An array reference

If $input_filename_or_reference is an array reference, each element in the array must be a filename.

The input data will be read from each file in turn.

The complete array will be walked to ensure that it only contains valid filenames before any data is compressed.

An Input FileGlob string

If $input_filename_or_reference is a string that is delimited by the characters "<" and ">" "xz" will assume that it is an input fileglob string. The input is the list of files that match the fileglob.

See File::GlobMapper for more details.

If the $input_filename_or_reference parameter is any other type, "undef" will be returned.

The $output_filename_or_reference parameter

The parameter $output_filename_or_reference is used to control the destination of the compressed data. This parameter can take one of these forms.

A filename

If the $output_filename_or_reference parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for writing and the compressed data will be written to it.

A filehandle

If the $output_filename_or_reference parameter is a filehandle, the compressed data will be written to it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard output.

A scalar reference

If $output_filename_or_reference is a scalar reference, the compressed data will be stored in $$output_filename_or_reference.

An Array Reference

If $output_filename_or_reference is an array reference, the compressed data will be pushed onto the array.

An Output FileGlob

If $output_filename_or_reference is a string that is delimited by the characters "<" and ">" "xz" will assume that it is an output fileglob string. The output is the list of files that match the fileglob.

When $output_filename_or_reference is an fileglob string, $input_filename_or_reference must also be a fileglob string. Anything else is an error.

See File::GlobMapper for more details.

If the $output_filename_or_reference parameter is any other type, "undef" will be returned.

Notes

Optional Parameters

"AutoClose => 0|1"

This option applies to any input or output data streams to "xz" that are filehandles.

If "AutoClose" is specified, and the value is true, it will result in all input and/or output filehandles being closed once "xz" has completed.

This parameter defaults to 0.

"BinModeIn => 0|1"

This option is now a no-op. All files will be read in binmode.

"Append => 0|1"

The behaviour of this option is dependent on the type of output data stream.

Examples

Streaming

This very simple command line example demonstrates the streaming capabilities of the module. The code reads data from STDIN, compresses it, and writes the compressed data to STDOUT.

    $ echo hello world | perl -MIO::Compress::Xz=xz -e 'xz \*STDIN => \*STDOUT' >output.xz

The special filename "-" can be used as a standin for both "\*STDIN" and "\*STDOUT", so the above can be rewritten as

    $ echo hello world | perl -MIO::Compress::Xz=xz -e 'xz "-" => "-"' >output.xz

Compressing a file from the filesystem

To read the contents of the file "file1.txt" and write the compressed data to the file "file1.txt.xz".

    use strict ;
    use warnings ;
    use IO::Compress::Xz qw(xz $XzError) ;

    my $input = "file1.txt";
    xz $input => "$input.xz"
        or die "xz failed: $XzError\n";

Reading from a Filehandle and writing to an in-memory buffer

To read from an existing Perl filehandle, $input, and write the compressed data to a buffer, $buffer.

    use strict ;
    use warnings ;
    use IO::Compress::Xz qw(xz $XzError) ;
    use IO::File ;

    my $input = IO::File->new( "<file1.txt" )
        or die "Cannot open 'file1.txt': $!\n" ;
    my $buffer ;
    xz $input => \$buffer
        or die "xz failed: $XzError\n";

Compressing multiple files

To compress all files in the directory "/my/home" that match "*.txt" and store the compressed data in the same directory

    use strict ;
    use warnings ;
    use IO::Compress::Xz qw(xz $XzError) ;

    xz '</my/home/*.txt>' => '<*.xz>'
        or die "xz failed: $XzError\n";

and if you want to compress each file one at a time, this will do the trick

    use strict ;
    use warnings ;
    use IO::Compress::Xz qw(xz $XzError) ;

    for my $input ( glob "/my/home/*.txt" )
    {
        my $output = "$input.xz" ;
        xz $input => $output
            or die "Error compressing '$input': $XzError\n";
    }

Constructor

    my $z = IO::Compress::Xz->new( $output [,OPTS] )
        or die "IO::Compress::Xz failed: $XzError\n";

It returns an "IO::Compress::Xz" object on success and undef on failure. The variable $XzError will contain an error message on failure.

If you are running Perl 5.005 or better the object, $z, returned from IO::Compress::Xz can be used exactly like an IO::File filehandle. This means that all normal output file operations can be carried out with $z. For example, to write to a compressed file/buffer you can use either of these forms

    $z->print("hello world\n");
    print $z "hello world\n";

The mandatory parameter $output is used to control the destination of the compressed data. This parameter can take one of these forms.

A filename

If the $output parameter is a simple scalar, it is assumed to be a filename. This file will be opened for writing and the compressed data will be written to it.

A filehandle

If the $output parameter is a filehandle, the compressed data will be written to it. The string '-' can be used as an alias for standard output.

A scalar reference

If $output is a scalar reference, the compressed data will be stored in $$output.

If the $output parameter is any other type, "IO::Compress::Xz"::new will return undef.

Constructor Options

"AutoClose => 0|1"

This option is only valid when the $output parameter is a filehandle. If specified, and the value is true, it will result in the $output being closed once either the "close" method is called or the "IO::Compress::Xz" object is destroyed.

This parameter defaults to 0.

"Append => 0|1"

Opens $output in append mode.

The behaviour of this option is dependent on the type of $output.

"Preset => $preset"

Used to choose the compression preset.

Valid values are 0-9 and "LZMA_PRESET_DEFAULT".

0 is the fastest compression with the lowest memory usage and the lowest compression.

9 is the slowest compression with the highest memory usage but with the best compression.

Defaults to "LZMA_PRESET_DEFAULT" (6).

"Extreme => 0|1"

Makes the compression a lot slower, but a small compression gain.

Defaults to 0.

"Check => $check"

Used to specify the integrrity check used in the xz data stream. Valid values are "LZMA_CHECK_NONE", "LZMA_CHECK_CRC32", "LZMA_CHECK_CRC64", "LZMA_CHECK_SHA256".

Defaults to "LZMA_CHECK_CRC32".

"Strict => 0|1"

This is a placeholder option.

Examples

print

    $z->print($data)
    print $z $data

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter. This has the same behaviour as the "print" built-in.

Returns true if successful.

printf

    $z->printf($format, $data)
    printf $z $format, $data

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns true if successful.

syswrite

    $z->syswrite $data
    $z->syswrite $data, $length
    $z->syswrite $data, $length, $offset

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns the number of uncompressed bytes written, or "undef" if unsuccessful.

write

    $z->write $data
    $z->write $data, $length
    $z->write $data, $length, $offset

Compresses and outputs the contents of the $data parameter.

Returns the number of uncompressed bytes written, or "undef" if unsuccessful.

flush

    $z->flush;

Flushes any pending compressed data to the output file/buffer.

Returns true on success.

tell

    $z->tell()
    tell $z

Returns the uncompressed file offset.

eof

    $z->eof();
    eof($z);

Returns true if the "close" method has been called.

seek

    $z->seek($position, $whence);
    seek($z, $position, $whence);

Provides a sub-set of the "seek" functionality, with the restriction that it is only legal to seek forward in the output file/buffer. It is a fatal error to attempt to seek backward.

Empty parts of the file/buffer will have NULL (0x00) bytes written to them.

The $whence parameter takes one the usual values, namely SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR or SEEK_END.

Returns 1 on success, 0 on failure.

binmode

    $z->binmode
    binmode $z ;

This is a noop provided for completeness.

opened

    $z->opened()

Returns true if the object currently refers to a opened file/buffer.

autoflush

    my $prev = $z->autoflush()
    my $prev = $z->autoflush(EXPR)

If the $z object is associated with a file or a filehandle, this method returns the current autoflush setting for the underlying filehandle. If "EXPR" is present, and is non-zero, it will enable flushing after every write/print operation.

If $z is associated with a buffer, this method has no effect and always returns "undef".

Note that the special variable $| cannot be used to set or retrieve the autoflush setting.

input_line_number

    $z->input_line_number()
    $z->input_line_number(EXPR)

This method always returns "undef" when compressing.

fileno

    $z->fileno()
    fileno($z)

If the $z object is associated with a file or a filehandle, "fileno" will return the underlying file descriptor. Once the "close" method is called "fileno" will return "undef".

If the $z object is associated with a buffer, this method will return "undef".

close

    $z->close() ;
    close $z ;

Flushes any pending compressed data and then closes the output file/buffer.

For most versions of Perl this method will be automatically invoked if the IO::Compress::Xz object is destroyed (either explicitly or by the variable with the reference to the object going out of scope). The exceptions are Perl versions 5.005 through 5.00504 and 5.8.0. In these cases, the "close" method will be called automatically, but not until global destruction of all live objects when the program is terminating.

Therefore, if you want your scripts to be able to run on all versions of Perl, you should call "close" explicitly and not rely on automatic closing.

Returns true on success, otherwise 0.

If the "AutoClose" option has been enabled when the IO::Compress::Xz object was created, and the object is associated with a file, the underlying file will also be closed.

newStream([OPTS])

    $z->newStream( [OPTS] )

Closes the current compressed data stream and starts a new one.

OPTS consists of any of the options that are available when creating the $z object.

See the "Constructor Options" section for more details.