21ff1a839a
as this is a very frequent source of confusion for new users.
85 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
Command Line Interface for LZ4 library
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============================================
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### Build
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The Command Line Interface (CLI) can be generated
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using the `make` command without any additional parameters.
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The `Makefile` script supports all [standard conventions](https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Makefile-Conventions.html),
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including standard targets (`all`, `install`, `clean`, etc.)
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and standard variables (`CC`, `CFLAGS`, `CPPFLAGS`, etc.).
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For advanced use cases, there are targets to different variations of the CLI:
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- `lz4` : default CLI, with a command line syntax close to gzip
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- `lz4c` : Same as `lz4` with additional support legacy lz4 commands (incompatible with gzip)
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- `lz4c32` : Same as `lz4c`, but forced to compile in 32-bits mode
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The CLI generates and decodes [LZ4-compressed frames](../doc/lz4_Frame_format.md).
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#### Aggregation of parameters
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CLI supports aggregation of parameters i.e. `-b1`, `-e18`, and `-i1` can be joined into `-b1e18i1`.
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#### Benchmark in Command Line Interface
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CLI includes in-memory compression benchmark module for lz4.
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The benchmark is conducted using a given filename.
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The file is read into memory.
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It makes benchmark more precise as it eliminates I/O overhead.
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The benchmark measures ratio, compressed size, compression and decompression speed.
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One can select compression levels starting from `-b` and ending with `-e`.
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The `-i` parameter selects a number of seconds used for each of tested levels.
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#### Usage of Command Line Interface
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The full list of commands can be obtained with `-h` or `-H` parameter:
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```
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Usage :
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lz4 [arg] [input] [output]
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input : a filename
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with no FILE, or when FILE is - or stdin, read standard input
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Arguments :
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-1 : Fast compression (default)
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-9 : High compression
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-d : decompression (default for .lz4 extension)
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-z : force compression
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-D FILE: use FILE as dictionary
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-f : overwrite output without prompting
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-k : preserve source files(s) (default)
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--rm : remove source file(s) after successful de/compression
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-h/-H : display help/long help and exit
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Advanced arguments :
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-V : display Version number and exit
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-v : verbose mode
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-q : suppress warnings; specify twice to suppress errors too
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-c : force write to standard output, even if it is the console
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-t : test compressed file integrity
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-m : multiple input files (implies automatic output filenames)
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-r : operate recursively on directories (sets also -m)
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-l : compress using Legacy format (Linux kernel compression)
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-B# : cut file into blocks of size # bytes [32+]
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or predefined block size [4-7] (default: 7)
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-BD : Block dependency (improve compression ratio)
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-BX : enable block checksum (default:disabled)
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--no-frame-crc : disable stream checksum (default:enabled)
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--content-size : compressed frame includes original size (default:not present)
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--[no-]sparse : sparse mode (default:enabled on file, disabled on stdout)
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--favor-decSpeed: compressed files decompress faster, but are less compressed
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--fast[=#]: switch to ultra fast compression level (default: 1)
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Benchmark arguments :
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-b# : benchmark file(s), using # compression level (default : 1)
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-e# : test all compression levels from -bX to # (default : 1)
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-i# : minimum evaluation time in seconds (default : 3s)```
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```
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#### License
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All files in this directory are licensed under GPL-v2.
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See [COPYING](COPYING) for details.
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The text of the license is also included at the top of each source file.
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