H5F: File Interface

File API Functions

Name: H5Fopen

Signature:

hid_t H5Fopen(const char *name, unsigned flags, hid_t access_id )

Purpose:

Opens an existing file.

Description:

H5Fopen opens an existing file and is the primary function for accessing existing HDF5 files.

The parameter access_id is a file access property list identifier or H5P_DEFAULT for the default I/O access parameters.

The flags argument determines whether writing to an existing file will be allowed or not. The file is opened with read and write permission if flags is set to H5F_ACC_RDWR. All flags may be combined with the bit-wise OR operator (`|') to change the behavior of the file open call. The more complex behaviors of a file's access are controlled through the file-access property list.

Files which are opened more than once return a unique identifier for each H5Fopen() call and can be accessed through all file identifiers.

The return value is a file identifier for the open file and it should be closed by calling H5Fclose() when it is no longer needed.

Parameters:

const char *name

Name of the file to access.

unsigned flags

File access flags. See the H5Fcreate parameters list for a list of possible values.

hid_t access_id

Identifier for the file access properties list.

Returns:

Returns a file identifier if successful; otherwise FAIL (-1).

Name: H5Fcreate

Signature:

hid_t H5Fcreate(const char *name, unsigned flags, hid_t create_id, hid_t access_id )

Purpose:

Creates HDF5 files.

Description:

H5Fcreate is the primary function for creating HDF5 files .

The flags parameter determines whether an existing file will be overwritten. All newly created files are opened for both reading and writing. All flags may be combined with the bit-wise OR operator (`|') to change the behavior of the H5Fcreate call.

The more complex behaviors of file creation and access are controlled through the file-creation and file-access property lists. The value of H5P_DEFAULT for a template value indicates that the library should use the default values for the appropriate template. Also see H5Fpublic.h for the list of supported flags.

Parameters:

const char *name

Name of the file to access.

uintn flags

File access flags. Possible values include:

H5F_ACC_RDWR

Allow read and write access to file.

H5F_ACC_RDONLY

Allow read-only access to file.

H5F_ACC_TRUNC

Truncate file, if it already exists, erasing all data previously stored in the file.

H5F_ACC_EXCL

Fail if file already exists.

H5F_ACC_DEBUG

Print debug information.

H5P_DEFAULT

Apply default file access and creation properties.

hid_t create_id

File creation template identifier, used when modifying default file meta-data.

hid_t access_id

File access property list identifier. If parallel file access is desired, this is a collective call according to the communicator stored in the access_template. Use 0 for default access template.

Returns:

Returns a file identifier if successful; otherwise FAIL (-1).

Name: H5Fis_hdf5

Signature:

hbool_t H5Fis_hdf5(const char *name )

Purpose:

Determines whether a file is in the HDF5 format.

Description:

H5Fis_hdf5 determines whether a file is in the HDF5 format.

Parameters:

const char *name

File name to check format.

Returns:

Returns TRUE or FALSE if successful. Otherwise returns FAIL (-1).

Name: H5Fget_create_template

Signature:

hid_t H5Fget_create_template(hid_t file_id )

Purpose:

Returns a file creation property list identifier.

Description:

H5Fget_create_template returns a file creation property list identifier identifying the creation properties used to create this file. This function is useful for duplicating properties when creating another file.

See "File Creation Properties" in H5P: Property List Interface in this reference manual and "File Creation Properties" in Files in the HDF5 User's Guide for additional information and related functions.

Parameters:

hid_t file_id

Identifier of the file to get creation property list of

Returns:

Returns a file creation property list identifier if successful; otherwise FAIL (-1).

Name: H5Fget_access_template

Signature:

hid_t H5Fget_access_template(hid_t file_id)

Purpose:

Returns a file access property list identifier.

Description:

H5Fget_access_template returns the file access property list identifier of the specified file.

See "File Access Properties" in H5P: Property List Interface in this reference manual and "File Access Property Lists" in Files in the HDF5 User's Guide for additional information and related functions.

Parameters:

hid_t file_id

Identifier of file to get access property list of

Returns:

Returns a file access property list identifier if successful; otherwise FAIL (-1).

Name: H5Fclose

Signature:

herr_t H5Fclose(hid_t file_id )

Purpose:

Terminates access to an HDF5 file.

Description:

H5Fclose terminates access to an HDF5 file. If this is the last file identifier open for a file and if access identifiers are still in use, this function will fail.

Parameters:

hid_t file_id

Identifier of a file to terminate access to.

Returns:

Returns SUCCEED (0) if successful; otherwise FAIL (-1).