If you want a number output in binary format you need to pack it first, like this (assuming you want it stored as a 32-bit value) 

$num_data = pack("V", 7);

[download]

Here is a quick proof of concept that compresses a series of strings, each prefixed by a length, then uncompresses them. No error handling is included. The compressed data is stored in a string ($outBuffer) in this example, but it can also work with files with a small modification to the code. 

use IO::Compress::Deflate qw(:all);
use IO::Uncompress::Inflate qw(:all);

sub put
{
    my $handle = shift ;
    my $string = shift;

    print $handle pack("V", length $string) , $string ;

}

sub get
{
    my $handle = shift ;

    my $buf ;
    read($handle, $buf, 4) == 4
        or return undef ;
    my $len = unpack("V", $buf);

    read($handle, $buf, $len);

    return $buf;
}

my $outBuffer ;
my $out = new IO::Compress::Deflate \$outBuffer;

put($out, "hello world");
put($out, "goodbye");
$out->close ;

my $in = new IO::Uncompress::Inflate \$outBuffer;

my $got ;
while (defined ($got = get($in)))
{
    print "$got\n" ;
}

[download]

In reply to Re: zlib compression of numeric values by pmqs
in thread zlib compression of numeric values by GregWL

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