Date:         Fri, 9 Feb 2001 14:15:17 -0800
Reply-To:     Cassell.David@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "David L. Cassell" <Cassell.David@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: SAS Compress vs GZIP
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

One point which Jack shoemaker did not stress sufficiently [IMHO] is
the size of the compressed data set.  SAS Compress will squish records
with consecutive identical bytes, and will get something like a 10%
compression
rate [it varies depending on your data, of course].  gzip will squish
everything in sight, usually getting significantly more size reduction.
Of course, using SAS compress costs you only about 10% or 15% of the time
to read the uncompressed data set.  With gzip you have to use an x command
to shell out to the OS and uncompress the file, and then do the read.
If you have a serious space crunch and have the time, gzip may help.  Of
course, buying a new hard drive will help more...

David
--
David Cassell, OAO Corp.                           Cassell.David@epa.gov
Senior computing specialist
mathematical statistician