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<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>HDF5 File Organization
</TITLE> 
</HEAD>

<body bgcolor="#ffffff">

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 [ <A HREF="title.html"><I>HDF5 Tutorial Top</I></A> ]
<H1>
<BIG><BIG><BIG><FONT COLOR="#c101cd">HDF5 File Organization</FONT>
</BIG></BIG></BIG></H1>


<hr noshade size=1>

<BODY>
<P>
An HDF5 file is a container for storing a variety of scientific data 
is composed of two primary types of objects: groups and datasets.
<UL>
  <LI><B>HDF5 group:</B> a grouping structure containing zero or more HDF5 
      objects, together with supporting metadata

  <LI><B>HDF5 dataset:</B> a multidimensional array of data elements, together 
      with supporting metadata
</UL>
Any HDF5 group or dataset may have an associated attribute list. An <B>HDF5 
attribute</B> is a user-defined HDF5 structure that provides extra information
about an HDF5 object.
<P>
Working with groups and datasets is similar in many
ways to working with directories and files in UNIX. As with UNIX directories
and files, an HDF5 object in an HDF5 file is often referred to by its
<B>full path name</B> (also called an <B>absolute path name</B>).
<UL>
    <CODE>/</CODE> signifies the root group.<BR> 
    <CODE>/foo</CODE> signifies a member of the root group called <code>foo</code>.
<BR>
    <CODE>/foo/zoo</CODE> signifies a member of the group <code>foo</code>, which in 
    turn is a member of the root group. 
</UL>
<P>
<!--
In this tutorial, we consider:
<UL>
<LI>how to create a file 
<LI>how to create a group
<LI>how to create/read/write datasets
<LI>how to create an attribute 
<LI>how to create a grouping structure
<LI>how to create datasets in groups 
</UL>
The rest of the tutorial is organized as follows:
<UL>
 <LI> Section 3 describes the HDF5 APIs.
 <LI> Section 4 shows how to create an HDF5 file.
 <LI> Section 5 shows how to create a dataset.
 <LI> Section 6 shows how to read from and write to a dataset.
 <LI> Section 7 shows how to create an attribute.
 <LI> Section 8 shows how to create a group.
 <LI> Section 9 discusses HDF5 names and shows how to create groups using absolute and relative names.
 <LI> Section 10 shows how to create datasets in groups.
</UL>

Each section contains step by step instructions and an example. After the
example, an HDF5 tool is used to examine the file contents. A formal definition
of HDF5 objects in Backus-Naur Form is given last.

The tutorial ends with a glossary and references.
-->
<P>

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  <a href="http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/"><img border=0
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     width=78 height=27 alt="NCSA"><br>
  The National Center for Supercomputing Applications</A><br>
  <a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/">University of Illinois
    at Urbana-Champaign</a><br>
  <br>
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hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu</A>
<br>
<BR> <H6>Last Modified: June 22, 2001</H6><BR>
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