NAME
    Compress::LZF - extremely light-weight Lempel-Ziv-Free compression

SYNOPSIS
       # import compress/decompress functions
       use Compress::LZF;
       # the same as above
       use Compress::LZF ':compress';

       $compressed = compress $uncompressed_data;
       $original_data = decompress $compressed;

       # import sfreeze, sfreeze_cref and sfreeze_c
       use Compress::LZF ':freeze';

       $serialized = sfreeze_c [4,5,6];
       $original_data = sthaw $serialized;

DESCRIPTION
    LZF is an extremely fast (not that much slower than a pure memcpy)
    compression algorithm. It is ideal for applications where you want to
    save *some* space but not at the cost of speed. It is ideal for
    repetitive data as well. The module is self-contained and very small (no
    large library to be pulled in). It is also free, so there should be no
    problems incorporating this module into commercial programs.

    I have no idea wether any patents in any countries apply to this
    algorithm, but at the moment it is believed that it is free from any
    patents.

FUNCTIONS
    $compressed = compress $uncompressed
    $compressed = compress_best $uncompressed
        Try to compress the given string as quickly and as much as possible.
        In the worst case, the string can enlarge by 1 byte, but that should
        be the absolute exception. You can expect a 45% compression ratio on
        large, binary strings.

        The "compress_best" function uses a different algorithm that is
        slower but usually achieves better compression.

    $decompressed = decompress $compressed
        Uncompress the string (compressed by "compress") and return the
        original data. Decompression errors can result in either broken data
        (there is no checksum kept) or a runtime error.

    $serialized = sfreeze $value (simplified freeze)
    $serialized = sfreeze_best $value
        Often there is the need to serialize data into a string. This
        function does that, by using the Storable module. It does the
        following transforms:

          undef (the perl undefined value)
             => a special cookie (undef'ness is being preserved)
          IV, NV, PV (i.e. a _plain_ perl scalar):
             => stays as is when it contains normal text/numbers
             => gets serialized into a string
          RV, undef, other funny objects (magical ones for example):
             => data structure is freeze'd into a string.

        That is, it tries to leave "normal", human-readable data untouched
        but still serializes complex data structures into strings. The idea
        is to keep readability as high as possible, and in cases readability
        can't be helped anyways, it tries to compress the string.

        The "sfreeze" functions will enlarge the original data one byte at
        most and will only load the Storable method when neccessary.

        The "sfreeze_best" function uses a different algorithm that is
        slower but usually achieves better compression.

    $serialized = sfreeze_c $value (sfreeze and compress)
    $serialized = sfreeze_c_best $value
        Similar to "sfreeze", but always tries to "c"ompress the resulting
        string. This still leaves most small objects (most numbers)
        untouched.

        The "sfreeze_c" function uses a different algorithm that is slower
        but usually achieves better compression.

    $serialized = sfreeze_cr $value (sfreeze and compress references)
    $serialized = sfreeze_cr_best $value
        Similar to "sfreeze", but tries to "c"ompress the resulting string
        unless it's a "simple" string. References for example are not
        "simple" and as such are being compressed.

        The "sfreeze_cr_best" function uses a different algorithm that is
        slower but usually achieves better compression.

    $original_data = sthaw $serialized
        Recreate the original object from it's serialized representation.
        This function automatically detects all the different sfreeze
        formats.

    Compress::LZF::set_serializer $package, $freeze, $thaw
        Set the serialize module and functions to use. The default is
        "Storable", "Storable::net_mstore" and "Storable::mretrieve", which
        should be fine for most purposes.

SEE ALSO
    Other Compress::* modules, especially Compress::LZV1 (an older, less
    speedy module that guarentees only 1 byte overhead worst case) and
    Compress::Zlib.

    http://liblzf.plan9.de/

AUTHOR
    This perl extension and the underlying liblzf were written by Marc
    Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> (See also http://liblzf.plan9.de/).

BUGS