Bitstream of variable-length Huffman codes - How to write to file?

Question

I\'m working on a Huffman coding/decoding project in C and have a good understanding of how the algorithm should store information about the Huffman tree, re-build the tree duri

Answer 1

Here's some pseudo-code to give you the general idea:

static byte BitBuffer = 0;
static byte BitsinBuffer = 0;

static void WriteBitCharToOutput(char bitChar);
// buffer one binary digit ('1' or '0')
{
  if (BitsInBuffer > 7)
  {
    stream.write(BitBuffer);
    BitsInBuffer = 0;
    BitBuffer = 0; // just to be tidy
  }

  BitBuffer = (BitBuffer << 1) | (bitChar == '1' ? 1 : 0);
  BitsInBuffer++;
}

static void FlushBitBuffer()
// call after last character has been encoded
// to flush out remaining bits
{
  if (BitsInBuffer > 0)
  do
  {
    WriteBitCharToOutput('0'); // pad with zeroes
  } while (BitsInBuffer != 1);
}