zlib_lengths.py

#1/usr/bin/env python

# this is from The Python
# Standard Library by example
# ISBN13: 9780321767349

import zlib

original_data = 'This is the original text.'

fmt = '%15s %15s'
print fmt % ('len(data)', 'len(compressed)')
print fmt % ('-' * 15, '-' * 15)

for i in xrange(5):
    data = original_data * i
    compressed = zlib.compress(data)
    highlight = '*' if len(data) < len(compressed) else ''
    print fmt % (len(data), len(compressed)), highlight