Re: ncdigest V1 #1119

[Jeff Whitaker <jswhit@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quincey Koziol wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
>
> On Aug 8, 2007, at 10:25 PM, ncdigest wrote:
>
> > ncdigest          Wednesday, August 8 2007          Volume 01 : 
> > Number 1119
> >
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> > arrays of fixed-length strings
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:26:40 -0600
> > From: Jeff Whitaker <jswhit@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Subject: arrays of fixed-length strings
> >
> > In netcdf-4.0, I don't see how to create variables which are arrays of
> > strings with length > 1.  I see how to create arrays of
> > single-characters, and arrays of variable-length strings, but not
> > strings of a specified length.
> >
> > Am I missing something, or is this not supported by HDF5?
>
>     Yes, fixed-length arrays are supported in HDF5.  You need to use 
> something like the following HDF5 calls:
>
>     tid = H5Tcopy(H5T_C_S1);
>     H5Tset_size(tid, <string length>);
>
>     Quincey
Quincey:  OK, thanks.  Maybe Russ or Ed can tell me whether this is 
possible in netcdf-4.0?  Being limited to single character arrays in 
netcdf-3 was one of things I really wanted netcdf-4 to overcome.  
Variable length strings are nice, but they don't map well to commonly 
used data structures (i.e. arrays) in fortran or python.

-Jeff

--
Jeffrey S. Whitaker         Phone : (303)497-6313
NOAA/OAR/CDC  R/PSD1        FAX   : (303)497-6449
325 Broadway                Boulder, CO, USA 80305-3328

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