diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8739277..490ffa1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
-coming soon
\ No newline at end of file
+This repo contains example python scripts for processing the reddit dump files created by pushshift. The files can be downloaded from [here](https://files.pushshift.io/reddit/) or torrented from [here](https://academictorrents.com/details/f37bb9c0abe350f0f1cbd4577d0fe413ed07724e).
+
+* `single_file.py` decompresses and iterates over a single zst compressed file
+* `iterate_folder.py` does the same, but for all files in a folder
+* `combine_folder_multiprocess.py` uses separate processes to iterate over multiple files in parallel, writing lines that match the criteria passed in to text files, then combining them into a final zst compressed file
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/combine_folder_multiprocess.py b/scripts/combine_folder_multiprocess.py
index 7270c4b..e4017df 100644
--- a/scripts/combine_folder_multiprocess.py
+++ b/scripts/combine_folder_multiprocess.py
@@ -1,3 +1,24 @@
+# this script iterates through zst compressed ndjson files, like the pushshift reddit dumps, loads each line
+# and passes it into the save_obj function, if it function returns true for a line, it's written out into a
+# separate file for that month. After all the ndjson files are processed, it iterates through the resulting
+# files and combines them into a final file.
+
+# once complete, the combined file can easily be processed like
+# with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
+#     for line in file:
+#         obj = json.loads(line)
+
+# features:
+#  - multiple processes in parallel to maximize drive read and decompression
+#  - saves state as it completes each file and picks up where it stopped
+#  - detailed progress indicators
+
+# examples:
+#  - get all comments that have a subreddit field (subreddit is the default) of "wallstreetbets"
+#    python3 combine_folder_multiprocess.py reddit/comments reddit_final --name wallstreetbets_comments --value wallstreetbets
+#  - get all comments that have an author field of Watchful1
+#    python3 combine_folder_multiprocess.py reddit/comments reddit_final --name watchful1_comments --field author --value Watchful1
+
 import zstandard
 import os
 import json
@@ -25,22 +46,6 @@ log_file_handler.setFormatter(log_formatter)
 log.addHandler(log_file_handler)
 
 
-# this script iterates through zst compressed ndjson files, like the pushshift reddit dumps, loads each line
-# and passes it into the save_obj function, if it function returns true for a line, it's written out into a
-# separate file for that month. After all the ndjson files are processed, it iterates through the resulting
-# files and combines them into a final file.
-
-# once complete, the combined file can easily be processed like
-# with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
-#     for line in file:
-#         obj = json.loads(line)
-
-# features:
-#    - multiple processes in parallel to maximize drive read and decompression
-#    - saves state as it completes each file and picks up where it stopped
-#    - detailed progress indicators
-
-
 # convenience object used to pass status information between processes
 class FileConfig:
 	def __init__(self, input_path, output_path=None, complete=False, lines_processed=0, error_lines=0):
@@ -179,7 +184,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 		log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 	log.info(f"Loading files from: {args.input}")
-	log.info(f"Writing output to: {(os.path.join(args.output, args.name + '.txt'))}")
+	log.info(f"Writing output to: {(os.path.join(args.output, args.name + '.zst'))}")
 
 	multiprocessing.set_start_method('spawn')
 	queue = multiprocessing.Manager().Queue()
@@ -294,21 +299,17 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 	log.info(f"Processing complete, combining {len(working_file_paths)} result files")
 
 	output_lines = 0
-	output_file_path = os.path.join(args.output, args.name + ".txt")
+	output_file_path = os.path.join(args.output, args.name + ".zst")
 	# combine all the output files into the final results file
 	with open(output_file_path, 'w') as output_file:
-		i = 0
+		files_combined = 0
+		writer = zstandard.ZstdCompressor().stream_writer(output_file)
 		for working_file_path in working_file_paths:
-			i += 1
-			log.info(f"Reading {i}/{len(working_file_paths)}")
+			files_combined += 1
+			log.info(f"Reading {files_combined}/{len(working_file_paths)}")
 			with open(working_file_path, 'r') as input_file:
 				for line in input_file.readlines():
 					output_lines += 1
-					output_file.write(line)
+					writer.write(line.encode('utf-8'))
 
 	log.info(f"Finished combining files, {output_lines:,} lines written to {output_file_path}")
-
-
-# test file sorting
-# compress results
-# example command line call in comment
diff --git a/scripts/iterate_folder.py b/scripts/iterate_folder.py
index 317b01a..99981c2 100644
--- a/scripts/iterate_folder.py
+++ b/scripts/iterate_folder.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# this is an example of iterating over all zst files in a single folder,
+# decompressing them and reading the created_utc field to make sure the files
+# are intact. It has no output other than the number of lines
+
 import zstandard
 import os
 import json
diff --git a/scripts/single_file.py b/scripts/single_file.py
index 23e9dea..ed8d810 100644
--- a/scripts/single_file.py
+++ b/scripts/single_file.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# this is an example of loading and iterating over a single file
+
 import zstandard
 import os
 import json
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ def read_lines_zst(file_name):
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-	file_path = r"\\MYCLOUDPR4100\Public\reddit\submissions\RS_2013-03.zst"
+	file_path = sys.argv[1]
 	file_size = os.stat(file_path).st_size
 	file_lines = 0
 	file_bytes_processed = 0