% cat test.rc 
#!/usr/bin/env rc

prog=(gzip bzip2 lzma)
data=/tmp/^(random.dat linux-2.6.31.tar)


for (j in $data) {
   echo ---------------------------------------------------
   echo $j
   du -b $j
   echo ---------------------------------------------------
   for (i in $prog) {
      echo $i
      outfile = $j^.$i
      time $i -c $j >[2=1] > $outfile 
      du -b $outfile
      time $i -c -d $outfile >[2=1] > /dev/null
      rm $outfile
      echo
      echo
   }
   echo ---------------------------------------------------
}

% rc ./test.rc
---------------------------------------------------
/tmp/random.dat
1048576	/tmp/random.dat
---------------------------------------------------
gzip
0.13u 0.02s 0.18r 	 gzip -c /tmp/random.dat
1048765	/tmp/random.dat.gzip
0.04u 0.00s 0.04r 	 gzip -c -d /tmp/random.dat.gzip


bzip2
0.88u 0.03s 0.99r 	 bzip2 -c /tmp/random.dat
1053432	/tmp/random.dat.bzip2
0.28u 0.01s 0.30r 	 bzip2 -c -d /tmp/random.dat.bzip2


lzma
1.03u 0.03s 1.10r 	 lzma -c /tmp/random.dat
1062865	/tmp/random.dat.lzma
0.30u 0.00s 0.32r 	 lzma -c -d /tmp/random.dat.lzma


---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
/tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar
365711360	/tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar
---------------------------------------------------
gzip
41.45u 1.79s 47.98r 	 gzip -c /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar
79005209	/tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.gzip
4.78u 0.12s 5.18r 	 gzip -c -d /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.gzip


bzip2
154.84u 3.59s 173.94r 	 bzip2 -c /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar
61494822	/tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.bzip2
35.84u 0.30s 37.85r 	 bzip2 -c -d /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.bzip2


lzma
1065.02u 20.07s 1167.30r 	 lzma -c /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar
52352353	/tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.lzma
16.78u 0.28s 18.53r 	 lzma -c -d /tmp/linux-2.6.31.tar.lzma


---------------------------------------------------