Read a .Z file (unix compresses file) in Java

Question

The said file extension is explained here at http://kb.iu.edu/data/abck.html. I want to use a java api to read the contents of a Z file. Neither the ZipFile api or the GZIPI

Answer 1

You can use compress-j2me:

% git clone https://github.com/igorgatis/compress-j2me.git
% cd compress-j2me/src/lzc-test
% ant -q
% cd build/cmd
% echo "testdonkeyballs" | compress | java com.googlecode.compress_j2me.lzc.Main -d
testdonkeyballs

For a maintained alternative, try Apache Commons-Compress.

Answer 2

I've had success reading compressed files with UncompressInputStream.java. I haven't verified if the logic is correct, but it seems to work.

    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream( new File( "thefile.cfg.Z" ) );
    InputStream is = new UncompressInputStream( new BufferedInputStream( fis ) ); 
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader( is ) );
    String line = null;
    while ( ( line = reader.readLine() ) != null )
    {
        System.out.println( "line = " + line );
    }