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[netCDF #WJF-487790]: ncdump -t

Hi Cathy,

> ncdump -t -v time filename outputs the variable times in a readable
> format but the time attributes are not interpreted. Specifically, it is
> very useful to have the time actual_range attribute be interpreted to
> a human readable format. Can this be added?

The "actual_range" attribute is not a standard CF attribute convention or 
part of the netCDF User's Guide conventions, although I see it's part of
the ESRL PSD conventions.  Currently we're supporting some CF conventions
(e.g. "calendar") in ncdump and others in libcf, but it would be difficult
to support lots of other conventions with our current resources.  Also
there is no way to identify the units of the "actual_range" attribute, as
attributes can't have attributes in the netCDF data model.  If there was
a way to indicate which attributes inherit the units of a variable, that
would make what you request practical.

One way to eventually get support for something like this would be to get
it adopted by the CF community.  Another possibility would be support for
some sort of ncdump convention plugin interface to permit adding special
processing for alternate conventions.  But then a similar plugin would be
needed for ncgen to preserve the ncdump/ncgen symmetry (which currently
doesn't exist for handling the "calendar" attribute).

--Russ

Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                      http://www.unidata.ucar.edu



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WJF-487790
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Critical
Status: Closed