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HDF5 File Organization

An HDF5 file is a container for storing a variety of scientific data, and the two primary HDF5 objects are groups and datasets.

• HDF5 group: a grouping structure containing zero or more HDF5 objects, together with supporting metadata.
• HDF5 dataset: a multidimensional array of data elements, together with supporting metadata.

Working with groups and group members (datasets for example) is similar in many ways to working with directories and files in UNIX. As with UNIX directories and files, objects in an HDF5 file are often described by giving their full (or absolute) path names.

/ signifies the root group.
/foo signifies a member of the root group called foo.
/foo/zoo signifies a member of the group foo, which in turn is a member of the root group.

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu

Last Modified: July 30, 1999