/** @page ViewTools Tools for Viewing and Editing HDF5 Files Navigate back: \ref index "Main" / \ref GettingStarted
Tutorial Topic | Description |
---|---|
@ref LearnHDFView | Use HDFView to create, edit and view files. |
@ref ViewToolsCommand | Use the HDF5 command-line tools for viewing, editing, and comparing HDF5 files. |
@ref ViewToolsJPSS | Use HDF5 tools to examine and work with JPSS NPP files. |
Tool Category | Topic | Tools Used |
---|---|---|
@ref ViewToolsView | @ref secViewToolsViewContent | h5dump and h5ls |
@ref secViewToolsViewDset | h5dump and h5ls | |
@ref secViewToolsViewGrps | h5dump and h5ls | |
@ref secViewToolsViewAttr | h5dump | |
@ref secViewToolsViewSub | h5dump | |
@ref secViewToolsViewDtypes | h5dump | |
@ref ViewToolsEdit | @ref secViewToolsEditRemove | h5repack |
@ref secViewToolsEditChange | h5repack | |
@ref secViewToolsEditApply | h5repack | |
@ref secViewToolsEditCopy | h5copy | |
@ref secViewToolsEditAdd | h5jam and h5unjam | |
@ref ViewToolsConvert | @ref secViewToolsConvertASCII | h5dump |
@ref secViewToolsConvertBinary | h5dump | |
@ref secViewToolsConvertExport | h5dump and h5import |
-h
or --help
option:
\code
h5dump -h
\endcode
The following h5dump options can be helpful in viewing the content and structure of a file:
Option | Description | Comment |
---|---|---|
-n, --contents | Displays a list of the objects in a file | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewContent_h5dumpEx1 |
-n 1, --contents=1 | Displays a list of the objects and attributes in a file | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5dumpEx6 |
-H, --header | Displays header information only (no data) | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewContent_h5dumpEx2 |
-A 0, --onlyattr=0 | Suppresses the display of attributes | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewContent_h5dumpEx2 |
-N P, --any_path=P | Displays any object or attribute that matches path P | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5dumpEx6 |
Option | Description | Comment |
---|---|---|
-r | Lists all groups and objects recursively | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewContent_h5lsEx3 |
-v | Generates verbose output (lists dataset properties, attributes and attribute values, but no dataset values) |
Option | Description | Comment |
---|---|---|
-d D, --dataset=D | Displays dataset D | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewDset_h5dumpEx4 |
-H, --header | Displays header information only | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewDset_h5dumpEx4 |
-p, --properties | Displays dataset filters, storage layout, and fill value properties | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewDset_h5dumpEx5 |
-A 0, --onlyattr=0 | Suppresses the display of attributes | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewContent_h5dumpEx2 |
-N P, --any_path=P | Displays any object or attribute that matches path P | See @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5dumpEx6 |
h5dump
using the -d D
option and specifying the entire
path and name of the dataset for D
. The path is important in identifying the correct dataset,
as there can be multiple datasets with the same name. The path can be determined by looking at
the objects in the file with h5dump -n
.
The following example uses the groups.h5
file that is created by the
\ref LBExamples
example h5_crtgrpar.c
. To display dset1
in the groups.h5
file below, specify dataset
/MyGroup/dset1
. The -H
option is used to suppress printing of the data values:
Contents of groups.h5
\code
$ h5dump -n groups.h5
HDF5 "groups.h5" {
FILE_CONTENTS {
group /
group /MyGroup
group /MyGroup/Group_A
dataset /MyGroup/Group_A/dset2
group /MyGroup/Group_B
dataset /MyGroup/dset1
}
}
\endcode
Display dataset "dset1"
\code
$ h5dump -d "/MyGroup/dset1" -H groups.h5
HDF5 "groups.h5" {
DATASET "/MyGroup/dset1" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I32BE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 3, 3 ) / ( 3, 3 ) }
}
}
\endcode
\subsubsection subsubsecViewToolsViewDset_h5dumpEx5 Example 5
The -p
option is used to examine the the dataset filters, storage layout, and fill value properties of a dataset.
This option can be useful for checking how well compression works, or even for analyzing performance
and dataset size issues related to chunking. (The smaller the chunk size, the more chunks that HDF5
has to keep track of, which increases the size of the file and potentially affects performance.)
In the file shown below the dataset /DS1
is both chunked and compressed:
\code
$ h5dump -H -p -d "/DS1" h5ex_d_gzip.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_d_gzip.h5" {
DATASET "/DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 32, 64 ) / ( 32, 64 ) }
STORAGE_LAYOUT {
CHUNKED ( 4, 8 )
SIZE 5278 (1.552:1 COMPRESSION)
}
FILTERS {
COMPRESSION DEFLATE { LEVEL 9 }
}
FILLVALUE {
FILL_TIME H5D_FILL_TIME_IFSET
VALUE 0
}
ALLOCATION_TIME {
H5D_ALLOC_TIME_INCR
}
}
}
\endcode
You can obtain the h5ex_d_gzip.c
program that created this file, as well as the file created,
from the Examples by API page.
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewDset_h5ls h5ls
Specific datasets can be specified with h5ls
by simply adding the dataset path and dataset after the
file name. As an example, this command displays dataset dset2
in the groups.h5
file used in @ref subsubsecViewToolsViewDset_h5dumpEx4 :
\code
h5ls groups.h5/MyGroup/Group_A/dset2
\endcode
Just the dataspace information gets displayed:
\code
dset2 Dataset {2, 10}
\endcode
The following options can be used to see detailed information about a dataset.
Option | Description |
---|---|
-v, --verbose | Generates verbose output (lists dataset properties, attributes and attribute values, but no dataset values) |
-d, --data | Displays dataset values |
-v
is shown below:
\code
$ h5ls -v groups.h5/MyGroup/Group_A/dset2
Opened "groups.h5" with sec2 driver.
dset2 Dataset {2/2, 10/10}
Location: 1:3840
Links: 1
Storage: 80 logical bytes, 80 allocated bytes, 100.00% utilization
Type: 32-bit big-endian integer
\endcode
The output of using -d
is shown below:
\code
$ h5ls -d groups.h5/MyGroup/Group_A/dset2
dset2 Dataset {2, 10}
Data:
(0,0) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
\endcode
\section secViewToolsViewGrps Groups
Both h5dump and h5ls can be used to view specific groups in a file.
h5dump
options that are useful for examining groups are:
Option | Description |
---|---|
-g G, --group=G | Displays group G and its members |
-H, --header | Displays header information only |
-A 0, --onlyattr=0 | Suppresses the display of attributes |
HDFEOS
group in the OMI file mentioned previously, you can specify the path and name of the group as follows:
\code
h5dump -g "/HDFEOS" -H -A 0 OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
The -A 0
option suppresses attributes and -H
suppresses printing of data values:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
GROUP "/HDFEOS" {
GROUP "ADDITIONAL" {
GROUP "FILE_ATTRIBUTES" {
}
}
GROUP "GRIDS" {
GROUP "OMI Column Amount O3" {
GROUP "Data Fields" {
DATASET "ColumnAmountO3" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
}
DATASET "RadiativeCloudFraction" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
}
DATASET "SolarZenithAngle" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
}
DATASET "ViewingZenithAngle" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
}
}
}
}
}
}
\endcode
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewGrps_h5ls h5ls
You can view the contents of a group with h5ls
/ by specifying the group after the file name.
To use h5ls
to view the contents of the /HDFEOS
group in the OMI-Aura.he5
file, type:
\code
h5ls -r OMI-Aura.he5/HDFEOS
\endcode
The output of this command is:
\code
/ADDITIONAL Group
/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES Group
/GRIDS Group
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3 Group
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3/Data\ Fields Group
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3/Data\ Fields/ColumnAmountO3 Dataset {720, 1440}
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3/Data\ Fields/RadiativeCloudFraction Dataset {720, 1440}
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3/Data\ Fields/SolarZenithAngle Dataset {720, 1440}
/GRIDS/OMI\ Column\ Amount\ O3/Data\ Fields/ViewingZenithAngle Dataset {720, 1440}
\endcode
If you specify the -v
option, you can also see the attributes and properties of the datasets.
\section secViewToolsViewAttr Attributes
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5dump h5dump
Attributes are displayed by default if using h5dump
. Some files contain many attributes, which
can make it difficult to examine the objects in the file. Shown below are options that can help
when using h5dump
to work with files that have attributes.
\subsubsection subsubsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5dumpEx6 Example 6
The -a
A option will display an attribute. However, the path to the attribute must be included
when specifying this option. For example, to see the ScaleFactor
attribute in the OMI-Aura.he5
file, type:
\code
h5dump -a "/HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle/ScaleFactor" OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
This command displays:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
ATTRIBUTE "ScaleFactor" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F64LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 1 ) / ( 1 ) }
DATA {
(0): 1
}
}
}
\endcode
How can you determine the path to the attribute? This can be done by looking at the file contents with the -n 1
option:
\code
h5dump -n 1 OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
Below is a portion of the output for this command:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
FILE_CONTENTS {
group /
group /HDFEOS
group /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL
group /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/EndUTC
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/GranuleDay
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/GranuleDayOfYear
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/GranuleMonth
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/GranuleYear
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/InstrumentName
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/OrbitNumber
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/OrbitPeriod
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/PGEVersion
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/Period
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/ProcessLevel
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/StartUTC
attribute /HDFEOS/ADDITIONAL/FILE_ATTRIBUTES/TAI93At0zOfGranule
...
\endcode
There can be multiple objects or attributes with the same name in a file. How can you make sure
you are finding the correct object or attribute? You can first determine how many attributes
there are with a specified name, and then examine the paths to them.
The -N
option can be used to display all objects or attributes with a given name.
For example, there are four attributes with the name ScaleFactor
in the OMI-Aura.he5
file,
as can be seen below with the -N
option:
\code
h5dump -N ScaleFactor OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
It outputs:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
ATTRIBUTE "ScaleFactor" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F64LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 1 ) / ( 1 ) }
DATA {
(0): 1
}
}
ATTRIBUTE "ScaleFactor" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F64LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 1 ) / ( 1 ) }
DATA {
(0): 1
}
}
ATTRIBUTE "ScaleFactor" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F64LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 1 ) / ( 1 ) }
DATA {
(0): 1
}
}
ATTRIBUTE "ScaleFactor" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F64LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 1 ) / ( 1 ) }
DATA {
(0): 1
}
}
}
\endcode
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewAttr_h5ls h5ls
If you include the -v
(verbose) option for h5ls
, you will see all of the attributes for the
specified file, dataset or group. You cannot display individual attributes.
\section secViewToolsViewSub Dataset Subset
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewSub_h5dump h5dump
If you have a very large dataset, you may wish to subset or see just a portion of the dataset.
This can be done with the following h5dump
options.
Option | Description |
---|---|
-d D, --dataset=D | Dataset D |
-s START, --start=START | Offset or start of subsetting selection |
-S STRIDE, --stride=STRIDE | Stride (sampling along a dimension). The default (unspecified, or 1) selects every element along a dimension, a value of 2 selects every other element, a value of 3 selects every third element, ... |
-c COUNT, --count=COUNT | Number of blocks to include in the selection |
-k BLOCK, --block=BLOCK | Size of the block in a hyperslab. The default (unspecified, or 1) is for the block size to be the size of a single element. |
START (s)
, STRIDE (S)
, COUNT (c)
, and BLOCK (k)
options
define the shape and size of the selection. They are arrays with the same number of dimensions as the rank
of the dataset's dataspace, and they all work together to define the selection. A change to one of
these arrays can affect the others.
When specifying these h5dump options, a comma is used as the delimiter for each dimension in the
option value. For example, with a 2-dimensional dataset, the option value is specified as "H,W",
where H is the height and W is the width. If the offset is 0 for both dimensions, then
START
would be specified as follows:
\code
-s "0,0"
\endcode
There is also a shorthand way to specify these options with brackets at the end of the dataset name:
\code
-d DATASETNAME[s;S;c;k]
\endcode
Multiple dimensions are separated by commas. For example, a subset for a 2-dimensional dataset would be specified as follows:
\code
-d DATASETNAME[s,s;S,S;c,c;k,k]
\endcode
For a detailed understanding of how selections works, see the #H5Sselect_hyperslab API in the \ref RM.
The dataset SolarZenithAngle in the OMI-Aura.he5 file can be used to illustrate these options. This
dataset is a 2-dimensional dataset of size 720 (height) x 1440 (width). Too much data will be displayed
by simply viewing the specified dataset with the -d
option:
\code
h5dump -d "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle" OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
Subsetting narrows down the output that is displayed. In the following example, the first
15x10 elements (-c "15,10") are specified, beginning with position (0,0) (-s "0,0"):
\code
h5dump -A 0 -d "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle" -s "0,0" -c "15,10" -w 0 OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
If using the shorthand method, specify:
\code
h5dump -A 0 -d "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle[0,0;;15,10;]" -w 0 OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
Where, the -d
option must be specified
before subsetting options (if not using the shorthand method).
The -A 0
option suppresses the printing of attributes.
The -w 0
option sets the number of columns of output to the maximum allowed value (65535).
This ensures that there are enough columns specified for displaying the data.
Either command displays:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
DATASET "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
SUBSET {
START ( 0, 0 );
STRIDE ( 1, 1 );
COUNT ( 15, 10 );
BLOCK ( 1, 1 );
DATA {
(0,0): 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403, 79.403,
(1,0): 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071,
(2,0): 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867,
(3,0): 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632,
(4,0): 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429,
(5,0): 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225,
(6,0): 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021,
(7,0): 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715, 77.715,
(8,0): 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511, 77.511,
(9,0): 77.658, 77.658, 77.658, 77.307, 77.307, 77.307, 77.307, 77.307, 77.307, 77.307,
(10,0): 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.556, 77.102, 77.102,
(11,0): 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 78.408, 77.102, 77.102,
(12,0): 76.34, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413, 78.413,
(13,0): 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 78.107, 77.195,
(14,0): 78.005, 78.005, 78.005, 78.005, 78.005, 78.005, 76.991, 76.991, 76.991, 76.991
}
}
}
}
\endcode
What if we wish to read three rows of three elements at a time (-c "3,3"), where each element
is a 2 x 3 block (-k "2,3") and we wish to begin reading from the second row (-s "1,0")?
You can do that with the following command:
\code
h5dump -A 0 -d "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle"
-s "1,0" -S "2,3" -c "3,3" -k "2,3" -w 0 OMI-Aura.he5
\endcode
In this case, the stride must be specified as 2 by 3 (or larger) to accommodate the reading of 2 by 3 blocks.
If it is smaller, the command will fail with the error,
\code
h5dump error: wrong subset selection; blocks overlap.
\endcode
The output of the above command is shown below:
\code
HDF5 "OMI-Aura.he5" {
DATASET "HDFEOS/GRIDS/OMI Column Amount O3/Data Fields/SolarZenithAngle" {
DATATYPE H5T_IEEE_F32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 720, 1440 ) / ( 720, 1440 ) }
SUBSET {
START ( 1, 0 );
STRIDE ( 2, 3 );
COUNT ( 3, 3 );
BLOCK ( 2, 3 );
DATA {
(1,0): 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071, 79.071,
(2,0): 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867, 78.867,
(3,0): 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632, 78.632,
(4,0): 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429, 78.429,
(5,0): 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225, 78.225,
(6,0): 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021, 78.021
}
}
}
}
\endcode
\section secViewToolsViewDtypes Datatypes
\subsection subsecViewToolsViewDtypes_h5dump h5dump
The following datatypes are discussed, using the output of h5dump
with HDF5 files from the
Examples by API page:
/DS1
. It has a datatype of #H5T_STD_I32LE (32-bit Little-Endian Integer)
and is a 4 by 7 array:
\code
$ h5dump h5ex_d_rdwr.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_d_rdwr.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I32LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 4, 7 ) / ( 4, 7 ) }
DATA {
(0,0): 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6,
(1,0): 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
(2,0): 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
(3,0): 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
}
}
}
}
\endcode
Contrast that with the following dataset that has both an Array datatype and is an array:
\code
$ h5dump h5ex_t_array.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_t_array.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_ARRAY { [3][5] H5T_STD_I64LE }
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 4 ) / ( 4 ) }
DATA {
(0): [ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, -1, -2, -3, -4,
0, -2, -4, -6, -8 ],
(1): [ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
2, 1, 0, -1, -2 ],
(2): [ 0, 2, 4, 6, 8,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
4, 4, 4, 4, 4 ],
(3): [ 0, 3, 6, 9, 12,
3, 5, 7, 9, 11,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]
}
}
}
}
\endcode
In this file, dataset /DS1
has a datatype of
\code
H5T_ARRAY { [3][5] H5T_STD_I64LE }
\endcode
and it also has a dataspace of
\code
SIMPLE { ( 4 ) / ( 4 ) }
\endcode
In other words, it is an array of four elements, in which each element is a 3 by 5 array of #H5T_STD_I64LE.
This dataset is much more complex. Also note that subsetting cannot be done on Array datatypes.
See this FAQ for more information on the Array datatype.
\subsubsection subsubsecViewToolsViewDtypes_objref Object Reference
An Object Reference is a reference to an entire object (dataset, group, or named datatype).
A dataset with an Object Reference datatype consists of one or more Object References.
An Object Reference dataset can be used as an index to an HDF5 file.
The /DS1
dataset in the following file (h5ex_t_objref.h5
) is an Object Reference dataset.
It contains two references, one to group /G1
and the other to dataset /DS2
:
\code
$ h5dump h5ex_t_objref.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_t_objref.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_REFERENCE { H5T_STD_REF_OBJECT }
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 2 ) / ( 2 ) }
DATA {
(0): GROUP 1400 /G1 , DATASET 800 /DS2
}
}
DATASET "DS2" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I32LE
DATASPACE NULL
DATA {
}
}
GROUP "G1" {
}
}
}
\endcode
\subsubsection subsubsecViewToolsViewDtypes_regref Region Reference
A Region Reference is a reference to a selection within a dataset. A selection can be either
individual elements or a hyperslab. In h5dump
you will see the name of the dataset along with
the elements or slab that is selected. A dataset with a Region Reference datatype consists of
one or more Region References.
An example of a Region Reference dataset (h5ex_t_regref.h5
) can be found on the
Examples by API page,
under Datatypes. If you examine this dataset with h5dump
you will see that /DS1
is a
Region Reference dataset as indicated by its datatype, highlighted in bold below:
\code
$ h5dump h5ex_t_regref.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_t_regref.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_REFERENCE { H5T_STD_REF_DSETREG }
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 2 ) / ( 2 ) }
DATA {
DATASET /DS2 {(0,1), (2,11), (1,0), (2,4)},
DATASET /DS2 {(0,0)-(0,2), (0,11)-(0,13), (2,0)-(2,2), (2,11)-(2,13)}
}
}
DATASET "DS2" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I8LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 3, 16 ) / ( 3, 16 ) }
DATA {
(0,0): 84, 104, 101, 32, 113, 117, 105, 99, 107, 32, 98, 114, 111, 119,
(0,14): 110, 0,
(1,0): 102, 111, 120, 32, 106, 117, 109, 112, 115, 32, 111, 118, 101,
(1,13): 114, 32, 0,
(2,0): 116, 104, 101, 32, 53, 32, 108, 97, 122, 121, 32, 100, 111, 103,
(2,14): 115, 0
}
}
}
}
\endcode
It contains two Region References:
\li A selection of four individual elements in dataset /DS2 : (0,1), (2,11), (1,0), (2,4)
See the #H5Sselect_elements API in the \ref UG for information on selecting individual elements.
\li A selection of these blocks in dataset /DS2 : (0,0)-(0,2), (0,11)-(0,13), (2,0)-(2,2), (2,11)-(2,13)
See the #H5Sselect_hyperslab API in the \ref UG for how to do hyperslab selection.
If you look at the code that creates the dataset (h5ex_t_regref.c
) you will see that the
first reference is created with these calls:
\code
status = H5Sselect_elements (space, H5S_SELECT_SET, 4, coords[0]);
status = H5Rcreate (&wdata[0], file, DATASET2, H5R_DATASET_REGION, space);
\endcode
where the buffer containing the coordinates to select is:
\code
coords[4][2] = { {0, 1},
{2, 11},
{1, 0},
{2, 4} },
\endcode
The second reference is created by calling,
\code
status = H5Sselect_hyperslab (space, H5S_SELECT_SET, start, stride, count, block);
status = H5Rcreate (&wdata[1], file, DATASET2, H5R_DATASET_REGION, space);
\endcode
where start, stride, count, and block have these values:
\code
start[2] = {0, 0},
stride[2] = {2, 11},
count[2] = {2, 2},
block[2] = {1, 3};
\endcode
These start, stride, count, and block values will select the elements shown in bold in the dataset:
\code
84 104 101 32 113 117 105 99 107 32 98 114 111 119 110 0
102 111 120 32 106 117 109 112 115 32 111 118 101 114 32 0
116 104 101 32 53 32 108 97 122 121 32 100 111 103 115 0
\endcode
If you use h5dump
to select a subset of dataset
/DS2
with these start, stride, count, and block values, you will see that the same elements are selected:
\code
$ h5dump -d "/DS2" -s "0,0" -S "2,11" -c "2,2" -k "1,3" h5ex_t_regref.h5
HDF5 "h5ex_t_regref.h5" {
DATASET "/DS2" {
DATATYPE H5T_STD_I8LE
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 3, 16 ) / ( 3, 16 ) }
SUBSET {
START ( 0, 0 );
STRIDE ( 2, 11 );
COUNT ( 2, 2 );
BLOCK ( 1, 3 );
DATA {
(0,0): 84, 104, 101, 114, 111, 119,
(2,0): 116, 104, 101, 100, 111, 103
}
}
}
}
\endcode
For more information on selections, see the tutorial topic on
@ref LBDsetSubRW. Also see the
\ref secViewToolsViewSub tutorial topic on using h5dump
to view a subset.
\subsubsection subsubsecViewToolsViewDtypes_string String
There are two types of string data, fixed length strings and variable length strings.
Below is the h5dump
output for two files that have the same strings written to them. In one file,
the strings are fixed in length, and in the other, the strings have different sizes (and are variable in size).
Dataset of Fixed Length Strings
\code
HDF5 "h5ex_t_string.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_STRING {
STRSIZE 7;
STRPAD H5T_STR_SPACEPAD;
CSET H5T_CSET_ASCII;
CTYPE H5T_C_S1;
}
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 4 ) / ( 4 ) }
DATA {
(0): "Parting", "is such", "sweet ", "sorrow."
}
}
}
}
\endcode
Dataset of Variable Length Strings
\code
HDF5 "h5ex_t_vlstring.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
DATASET "DS1" {
DATATYPE H5T_STRING {
STRSIZE H5T_VARIABLE;
STRPAD H5T_STR_SPACEPAD;
CSET H5T_CSET_ASCII;
CTYPE H5T_C_S1;
}
DATASPACE SIMPLE { ( 4 ) / ( 4 ) }
DATA {
(0): "Parting", "is such", "sweet", "sorrow."
}
}
}
}
\endcode
You might wonder which to use. Some comments to consider are included below.
\li In general, a variable length string dataset is more complex than a fixed length string. If you don't
specifically need a variable length type, then just use the fixed length string.
\li A variable length dataset consists of pointers to heaps in different locations in the file. For this
reason, a variable length dataset cannot be compressed. (Basically, the pointers get compressed and
not the actual data!) If compression is needed, then do not use variable length types.
\li If you need to create an array of of different length strings, you can either use fixed length strings
along with compression, or use a variable length string.