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.TH HDFED 1 "October 31, 1999"
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.\" man page by Jim Van Zandt <jrv@vanzandt.mv.com> -*- nroff -*-
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hdfed \- edit the contents of an HDF File
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\fBhdfed\fP allows experienced HDF users to manipulate the
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elements of an HDF file. These manipulations include
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Selecting groups and showing information about them.
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Dumping group information to output files.
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Writing group data to output files.
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Deleting groups from HDF files.
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Inserting groups in HDF files.
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Replacing elements of HDF files.
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Editing the labels and descriptions of any element in an HDF file.
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\fBhdfed\fP is designed primarily for users who need to know about HDF
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files at the level of individual data elements. It is not designed to
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provide a comprehensive high-level view of the contents of an HDF file
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- other tools and utilities should be used for that purpose. To use
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\fBhdfed\fP one should be familiar with the components of an HDF file
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covered in the HDF Specifications manual.
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The \fBhdfed\fP utility is loosely modeled on ed(1), the UNIX line
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editor. When \fBhdfed\fP is invoked, it prompts the user for commands,
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as does ed. Also, basic command syntax and description information is
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available to the user through \fBhdfed\fP. The most common \fBhdfed\fP
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commands are used to control the position in the HDF file and the
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format of the information provided.
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The initial view of the file under \fBhdfed\fP consists of a set of
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tag/reference number pairs. Although \fBhdfed\fP allows modification
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of tags and reference numbers within strict constraints, it will not
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allow the user to arbitrarily modify binary data in the file.
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The following terms and concepts must be understood in order to use
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\fBhdfed\fP correctly and will be used in the following discussion
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The data object or object refers to an HDF data object and the
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data descriptor of that object. (i.e., tags, reference numbers,
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The data or data element refers to the record that the data descriptor
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points to. For a precise definition of the data that is associated
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with a given tag consult the HDF Specifications and Developer's Guide
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v3.2 from the HDF WWW home page at http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.
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The group refers to a predefined collection of data objects that
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correspond to a particular application. For example, a raster image
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group refers to the collection of objects that are used to store all
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of the information in a raster image set.
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Once an HDF file has been opened by \fBhdfed\fP, the following operations
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can be performed on the data file, among others:
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Select an HDF object to examine more closely.
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Move forward or backward within the HDF file.
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Get information about an object. (tag, reference number, size,
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Display a raster image using the ICR protocol.
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Display the contents of any object.
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Annotate an object with a label or description.
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Write an object to a second HDF file.
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Write data elements in binary form to a non-HDF file.
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Close the file and exit, or open a new file.
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\fBhdfed\fP commands are documented in the Users Guide section on
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Command-line Utilities.
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Make no backup file. If this option is omitted, a backup file is
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automatically created.
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Input to \fBhdfed\fP is a stream of \fBhdfed\fP commands, rather than
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interactively. The \fB-batch\fP flag is useful when a group of
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commonly-used commands are included in a UNIX shell script. The
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following is an example of such a script, using the C-shell, that
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lists information about the groups in a specified HDF file.
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hdfed -batch $file -nobackup << EOF
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Output usage information, as well as a quick list of the \fBhdfed\fPj
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The HDF Users Guide: \fI/usr/share/doc/libhdf4g/html-userguide/Utils2.html#33\fP.
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