(Perl) Compress and Decompress Hex String

Imagine we have data represented as a hex string. This example demonstrates how to decode, compress, and re-encode to a smaller hex string representing the compressed data. An even better choice is to re-encode to a more compact encoding such as base64.

Note: This example requires Chilkat v9.5.0.66 or greater.

Chilkat Perl Downloads Perl Module for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Alpine Linux, Solaris

use chilkat();

# This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
# See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

$strHex = "54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A0D0A";

$compress = chilkat::CkCompression->new();
$compress->put_Algorithm("deflate");

$binDat = chilkat::CkBinData->new();
# Load the hex string into a BinData object.
# This decodes the hexidecimal. The decoded bytes will be contained in the BinData.
$binDat->AppendEncoded($strHex,"hex");

# Compress the BinData.
$compress->CompressBd($binDat);

# Get the compressed data in hex format:
$compressedHex = $binDat->getEncoded("hex");
print "compressed hex:" . "\r\n";
print $compressedHex . "\r\n";

# The compressed hex is: 0BC94855282CCD4CCE56482ACA2FCF5348CBAF50C82ACD2D484D51C82F4B2D522801CAE72456552AA4E4A7EBF172850C61E5BC5C00

# Even better, get the compressed data in base64 format:
# (base64url and modbase64 are other valid choices...)
$compressedBase64 = $binDat->getEncoded("base64");
print "compressed base64:" . "\r\n";
print $compressedBase64 . "\r\n";

# The compressed base64 is: C8lIVSgszUzOVkgqyi/PU0jLr1DIKs0tSE1RyC9LLVIoAcrnJFZVKqTkp+vxcoUMYeW8XAA=

# Now decompress:
$binDat->Clear();
$binDat->AppendEncoded($compressedHex,"hex");
$compress->DecompressBd($binDat);

$decompressedHex = $binDat->getEncoded("hex");
print "decompressed hex:" . "\r\n";
print $decompressedHex . "\r\n";

# The output is the original hex string:
# 54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A0D0A