ncl_filedump

ncl_filedump generates an ASCII representation of a specified file (netCDF, GRIB1, GRIB2, HDF4, HDF-EOS2, and/or shapefile format) on the standard output.

Synopsis

   ncl_filedump [-c] [-v var1[,...]] [-itime] [-ftime] [-tps] [-h] input-file

Description

ncl_filedump generates an ASCII representation of a specified file on the standard output. The input file may be any file type supported by NCL via the addfile() function. The default output is to the standard output. However, it may be redirected to a file or piped to UNIX utilites such as less or more via the UNIX operators > and |, respectively. The form of the output is similar to that produced by ncdump -h.

Beta test support was added for shapefiles in version 5.1.1. The NCL binaries for AIX, Cygwin, and Sun systems may not have shapefile support available.

Support was added for GRIB2 files in version 4.3.0.

Support for "-itime" and "-ftime" will be added in version 4.3.1.

Options

ncl_filedump accepts the following options:

-c: Output coordinate variable (variables that are also dimensions) as well as the declarations of all dimensions, variables, and attribute values. Data values of non-coordinate variables are not output.
-v var1[,...]: Output data values for the specified variable(s), in addition to the declarations of all dimensions, variables, and attributes. One or more variables must be specified by name, in a comma-delimited list (without blanks or other whitespace characters). Named variables must be valid within the input file.
-itime: Set time record dimension to initial_time. This allows a variable with only a single initial time to be treated as a single element dimension.
-ftime: Set time record dimension to initial_time. This allows a variable with only a single forecast time to be treated as a single element dimension.
-tps: Removes the suffix representing a time period (e.g. 2h) from statistically processed variables, leaving only the type of processing as a suffix (e.g. "_acc", "_avg", etc.) for GRIB files. The default is True, which leaves the suffix in place.
-h: Display a short message explaining the command usage, and exit.

Examples

Example 1

The following prints the coordinate variable information, as well as declarations of all dimensions, variables and attributes, of the input data file:

          % ncl_filedump ced1.lf00.t00z.ega.grb
          [...]
          filename:       ced1.lf00.t00z.eta
          path:   ced1.lf00.t00z.eta.grb
             file global attributes:
             dimensions:
                gridx_6 = 45
                gridy_6 = 53
                gridx_101 = 91
                gridy_101 = 113
                [...]
             variables:
                float PRES_6_SFC ( gridx_6, gridy_6 )
                [...]

Example 2

The following prints coordinate variable information, as well as declarations of all dimensions, variables and attributes, and the data values for the specified variable. It also creates the variable "forecast_time0" as a single element dimension variable.

          % ncl_filedump -v PRES_6_SFC -ftime ced1.lf00.t00z.ega.grb
          [...]
          filename:       ced1.lf00.t00z.eta
          path:   ced1.lf00.t00z.eta.grb
             file global attributes:
             dimensions:
                forecast_time0 = 1
                gridx_6 = 45
                gridy_6 = 53
                gridx_101 = 91
                gridy_101 = 113
                [...]
             variables:
                float PRES_6_SFC ( forecast_time0, gridx_6, gridy_6 )

                integer forecast_time0 ( forecast_time0 )
                   long_name :    Forecast offset from initial time
                   units :        hours

                [...]

          Variables:
 
               PRES_6_SFC:
  
           0.1009E+06  0.1009E+06  0.1009E+06  0.1009E+06  0.1009E+06  0.1008E+06
           0.1008E+06  0.1008E+06  0.1009E+06  0.1010E+06  0.1010E+06  0.1010E+06
           [...]

Example 3

The following prints the usage message:

           % ncl_filedump -h
           ncl_filedump [-c] [-v var1[,...]] [-h] file
           [-c]                coordinate variable and header information
           [-v var1[,...]]     data for variable(s) ,...
           [-itime]            set single element time record dimension to initial time
           [-ftime]            set single element time record dimension to forecast time
           [-tps]              GRIB files only; remove suffix representing a time period
                               (e.g. 2h) from statistically processed variables, leaving
                               only type of processing as a suffix (e.g. _acc, _avg)
           [-h]                this usage message

Caveats