This project implements the Huffman lossless data compression and decompression algorithm. It consists of two command-line utilities that work together to reduce file sizes and accurately restore them to their original state.

🚀 Features

Encoder (encoder): Calculates character frequencies, builds an optimal Huffman tree, and writes a compressed binary file (.huff) using bit-level manipulation (bit-packing).
Decoder (decoder): Reads the header and serialized tree structure from the compressed file to reconstruct the original text. It supports output redirection to stdout if no output file is specified.
Detailed Statistics (-s): Both applications can calculate and display the percentage of space saved after compression.

🛠️ Compilation

The project uses the C++17 standard (specifically for std::filesystem). To compile the two utilities, open a terminal in the project folder and run:

# Compile the Encoder
g++ -std=c++17 encoder_main.cpp Huffman.cpp Node.cpp Code.cpp -o encoder
 
# Compile the Decoder
g++ -std=c++17 decoder_main.cpp Huffman.cpp Node.cpp Code.cpp -o decoder

📖Usage

1. Compression (Encoder)

To compress a file, use the encoder utility:

./encoder -i original_text.txt -o compressed_file.huff -s

2. Decompression (Decoder)

To restore a compressed file, use the decoder utility:

./decoder -i compressed_file.huff -o recovered_text.txt -s

(If you omit the -o flag, the decoded text will be printed directly to the terminal / stdout).

Available Options:

-h : Displays the help message and exits.
-i <file> : Specifies the input file.
-o <file> : Specifies the output file.
-s : Displays detailed compression statistics (original size, compressed size, and space saved).

📚Documentation

The detailed codebase documentation was generated using Doxygen. You can view the full interactive documentation online here:

👉 Huffman Project Documentation