NCEPLIBS-bacio Documentation

bacio

This library performs binary I/O for the NCEP models, processing formatted and unformatted byte-addressable data records, and helping transform little endian files into big endian files.

Fortran Library

The NCEPLIBS-bacio has Fortran functions to open, read or write, and close either formatted or unformatted Fortran files.

Opening or Creating a Data File

Open or create the file with one of the baopen() family of functions.

• baopen() - Open a new or existing file for read/write.
• baopenr() - Open an existing file for read-only.
• baopenw() - Open a new or existing file for write only.
• baopenwt() - Open an existing file for write only, truncating current contents of the file.
• baopenwt() - Open an existing file for write only, appending to the current contents of the file.

Reading or Writing Unformatted Records

To read from an unformatted file, use:

• baread() - Read from an unformatted file.
• bareadl() - Read from an unformatted file, with integer*8 function parameters.

To write from an unformatted file, use:

• bawrite() - Write from an unformatted file.
• bawritel() - Write from an unformatted file, with integer*8 function parameters.

Reading or Writing Formatted Records

To read from an formatted file, use:

• bafrread() - Read from an unformatted file.
• bafrreadl() - Read from an unformatted file, with integer*8 function parameters.

To write from an formatted file, use:

• bafrwrite() - Write from an unformatted file.
• bafrwritel() - Write from an unformatted file, with integer*8 function parameters.

Closing the File

Close the data file with the baclose() function. All data files must be closed after use, to flush buffers and free resources.

C Backend

The Fortran functions all call the backend C function bacio_(), which does the heavy lifting for the NCEPLIBS-bacio library. Users should use the Fortran API for NCEPLIBS-bacio.