word-list-compress

word-list-compress [options] input_file output_file

-q, --quiet
    Suppresses non-error output.

-v, --verbose
    Enables verbose output.

-l, --level
    Sets the compression level (0-9, default: 6). Higher levels provide better compression but may take longer.

input_file
    The input file containing the sorted word list.

output_file
    The output file where the compressed word list will be written.

The word-list-compress command is a specialized tool designed for reducing the size of large word lists while preserving their integrity.

It employs techniques such as prefix and suffix compression, as well as deduplication, to achieve significant space savings. The tool typically takes a sorted list of words as input and outputs a compressed representation that can be later decompressed (usually with a complementary tool) to retrieve the original word list.

This is particularly useful in scenarios where disk space or memory usage is a constraint, such as embedded systems, mobile devices, or when working with very large datasets. The compressed representation is usually a binary format and much smaller than the text form. While the exact compression algorithm might vary between implementations, they often involve delta encoding and other dictionary-based methods to exploit redundancy in word lists. Compression levels could be configurable.

Main use cases include compressing dictionaries for spell checkers, storing word lists for password cracking tools, and reducing the footprint of linguistic resources.

The input file must be a sorted list of words, one word per line. The command requires a decompression tool for using the compressed output. Error handling may be limited.

The underlying compression algorithm often uses a combination of techniques including:
Prefix/Suffix Compression: Identifies common prefixes or suffixes among words and stores them only once.
Delta Encoding: Stores the difference between consecutive words instead of the full words.
Dictionary Encoding: Uses a dictionary to represent frequently occurring words or parts of words with shorter codes.

These techniques are designed to minimize the size of the compressed data while allowing for efficient decompression.

word-list-decompress(1), gzip(1), bzip2(1), xz(1)