https://github.com/w-henderson/huffpy
🗜️ Lightweight and efficient Python library for Huffman coding.
https://github.com/w-henderson/huffpy
compression huffman-coding huffman-compression-algorithm huffman-tree lossless-compression-algorithm python
Last synced: 2 months ago
JSON representation
🗜️ Lightweight and efficient Python library for Huffman coding.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/w-henderson/huffpy
- Owner: w-henderson
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2020-12-01T14:59:59.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2020-12-01T15:15:50.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-13T14:52:19.493Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: compression, huffman-coding, huffman-compression-algorithm, huffman-tree, lossless-compression-algorithm, python
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 588 KB
- Stars: 4
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
  
# Huffpy
Huffpy is a simple and efficient Huffman coding library for Python. It was written for a school project but I've since developed it further into a proper robust Python library.
## What is Huffman coding?
Huffman coding is a lossless compression algorithm used for text which works by performing a frequency analysis and assigning bit patterns to each character based on how frequently it appears. You can find a better description on [the Huffman coding Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huffman_coding).
## How do I install it?
Simply clone the repo and run `python setup.py install` to install the package. It has no dependencies, so there's no need to install any!
## Example Programs
Here's a very simple program to demonstrate how easy it is to use Huffman coding with Huffpy.
```py
import huffpy
coder = huffpy.HuffmanCoder()
stringToEncode = "Hello from Huffpy!"
huffmanString, tree = coder.encode(stringToEncode)
huffmanBytes = coder.toBytes(huffmanString, tree)
decodedHuffmanString, decodedTree = coder.fromBytes(huffmanBytes)
decodedString = coder.decode(decodedHuffmanString, decodedTree)
assert stringToEncode == decodedString
```
There's also a shortcuts module for common combinations of commands, so the above program could be written as follows:
```py
import huffpy.shortcuts
stringToEncode = "Hello from Huffpy!"
huffmanBytes = huffpy.shortcuts.stringToHuffmanBytes(stringToEncode)
decodedString = huffpy.shortcuts.huffmanBytesToString(huffmanBytes)
assert stringToEncode == decodedString
```
# Documentation
## [huffman.py](huffpy/huffman.py)
### HuffmanCoder class
- `encode(string, showOutput=False)`: encodes a regular string using Huffman coding, returning both the Huffman-coded string and its tree, in that order. If `showOutput` is true, show the percentage completed every 20000 characters.
- `decode(string, tree)`: decodes a Huffman-coded string and its tree, returning the original uncompressed string.
- `toBytes(string, tree)`: converts the Huffman-coded string and its tree into bytes, ready to be written to a file.
- `fromBytes(_bytes)`: converts the bytes from `toBytes` back into a string and a tree, ready to be decoded.
## [shortcuts.py](huffpy/shortcuts.py)
- `stringToHuffmanBytes(string)`: converts a regular string into Huffman-coded bytes, the equivalent of running `encode` followed by `toBytes`.
- `huffmanBytesToString(_bytes)`: converts the Huffman-coded bytes back into a regular string, the equivalent of running `fromBytes` followed by `decode`.