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1. jll29 · 1790067648 · focus · HN ↗

   Yes: you can classify a test file by topic with gzip as follows:

     gzip -9 sports.txt   testfile.txt
   
     gzip -9 politics.txt testfile.txt
   
     gzip -9 business.txt testfile.txt
   

   (ass. sports.txt politics.txt and business.txt are text docs pertaining from the sports, politics and business domains, respectively, and have equal size)

   The test file belongs to the topic with the smallest size *.gz file.

   Witten's group at Waikato uni were perhaps the first to work on this.

   Also check out the Hutter prize if you are interested in this.

   1. stingraycharles · 1790073336 · focus · HN ↗

      Back in the day - maybe two decades ago - I implemented language detection like this.

      I seeded gzip compressors’ dictionaries with Wikipedia articles in different languages.

      I would then try to use said dictionaries on any random text, and the one that was best able to compress it, was the correct language.

      Absolutely totally not the best approach, but very fast and super simple to implement.

      1. actionfromafar · 1790084214 · focus · HN ↗

         Sounds like the best approach. :)

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