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'''Minification''' (also '''minimisation''' or '''minimization''') is the process of removing all unnecessary characters from the [[source code]] of [[Interpreted language|interpreted programming languages]] or [[markup language]]s without changing its functionality. These unnecessary characters usually include [[Whitespace (computer science)|white space characters]], [[Newline|new line characters]], [[source code comment|comments]], and sometimes [[Curly bracket programming language|block delimiters]], which are used to add readability to the code but are not required for it to execute. Minification reduces the size of the source code, making its transmission over a network (e.g. the Internet) more efficient. In programmer culture, aiming at extremely minified source code is the purpose of recreational [[code golf]] competitions.
Minification can be distinguished from the more general concept of [[data compression]] in that the minified source can be interpreted immediately without the need for
The goals of minification are not the same as the goals of [[Obfuscated code|obfuscation]]; the former is often intended to be reversed using a [[pretty-print]]er{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} or unminifier. However, to achieve its goals, minification sometimes uses techniques also used by [[obfuscation]]; for example, shortening variable names and refactoring the [[source code]]. When minification uses such techniques, the [[pretty-print]]er or unminifier can only fully reverse the minification process if it is supplied details of the transformations done by such techniques. If not supplied those details, the reversed [[source code]] will contain different variable names and control flow, even though it will have the same functionality as the original [[source code]].
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