H5P: Property List Interface

Property List API Functions

The C Interfaces:

General Property List Operations H5Pcreate H5Pget_class H5Pcopy H5Pclose Generic Properties H5Pcreate_class H5Pregister H5Pinsert H5Pset H5Pexist H5Pget_size H5Pget_nprops H5Pget_class_name H5Pget_class_parent H5Pisa_class H5Pget H5Pequal H5Piterate H5Pcopy_prop H5Premove H5Punregister H5Pclose_class                 ||   Indicates functions           available only in           the parallel HDF5           library.

File Creation Properties H5Pget_version H5Pset_userblock H5Pget_userblock H5Pset_sizes H5Pget_sizes H5Pset_sym_k H5Pget_sym_k H5Pset_istore_k H5Pget_istore_k File Access Properties H5Pset_fclose_degree H5Pget_fclose_degree H5Pset_fapl_core H5Pget_fapl_core H5Pset_fapl_family H5Pget_fapl_family H5Pset_family_offset H5Pget_family_offset H5Pset_fapl_log H5Pset_fapl_mpio   || H5Pget_fapl_mpio   || H5Pset_fapl_mpiposix   || H5Pget_fapl_mpiposix   || H5Pset_fapl_multi H5Pget_fapl_multi H5Pset_multi_type H5Pget_multi_type H5Pset_fapl_split H5Pset_fapl_sec2 H5Pset_fapl_stdio H5Pget_driver H5Pset_meta_block_size H5Pget_meta_block_size H5Pset_sieve_buf_size H5Pget_sieve_buf_size H5Pset_alignment H5Pget_alignment H5Pset_cache H5Pget_cache H5Pset_gc_references H5Pget_gc_references H5Pset_small_data_block_size H5Pget_small_data_block_size

Dataset Creation Properties H5Pset_layout H5Pget_layout H5Pset_chunk H5Pget_chunk H5Pset_deflate H5Pset_fill_value H5Pget_fill_value H5Pfill_value_defined H5Pset_fill_time H5Pget_fill_time H5Pset_alloc_time H5Pget_alloc_time H5Pset_filter H5Pall_filters_avail H5Pget_nfilters H5Pget_filter H5Pget_filter_by_id H5Pmodify_filter H5Premove_filter H5Pset_fletcher32 H5Pset_shuffle H5Pset_szip H5Pset_external H5Pget_external_count H5Pget_external Dataset Access, Memory, and Transfer Properties H5Pset_buffer H5Pget_buffer H5Pset_preserve H5Pget_preserve H5Pset_edc_check H5Pget_edc_check H5Pset_filter_callback H5Pset_hyper_cache * H5Pget_hyper_cache * H5Pset_hyper_vector_size H5Pget_hyper_vector_size H5Pset_btree_ratios H5Pget_btree_ratios H5Pset_vlen_mem_manager H5Pget_vlen_mem_manager H5Pset_dxpl_mpio   || H5Pget_dxpl_mpio   || H5Pset_dxpl_multi H5Pget_dxpl_multi

* Functions labeled with an asterisk (*) are provided only for backwards compatibility with HDF5 Releases 1.4.x. See further notes in the description of each function.

Alphabetical Listing

H5Pall_filters_avail H5Pclose H5Pclose_class H5Pcopy H5Pcopy_prop H5Pcreate H5Pcreate_class H5Pequal H5Pexist H5Pfill_value_defined H5Pget H5Pget_alignment H5Pget_alloc_time H5Pget_btree_ratios H5Pget_buffer H5Pget_cache H5Pget_chunk H5Pget_class H5Pget_class_name H5Pget_class_parent H5Pget_driver H5Pget_dxpl_mpio   || H5Pget_dxpl_multi H5Pget_edc_check H5Pget_external H5Pget_external_count H5Pget_family_offset H5Pget_fapl_core H5Pget_fapl_family H5Pget_fapl_mpio   || H5Pget_fapl_mpiposix   || H5Pget_fapl_multi H5Pget_fclose_degree H5Pget_fill_time

H5Pget_fill_value H5Pget_filter H5Pget_filter_by_id H5Pget_gc_references H5Pget_hyper_cache * H5Pget_hyper_vector_size H5Pget_istore_k H5Pget_layout H5Pget_meta_block_size H5Pget_multi_type H5Pget_nfilters H5Pget_nprops H5Pget_preserve H5Pget_sieve_buf_size H5Pget_size H5Pget_sizes H5Pget_small_data_block_size H5Pget_sym_k H5Pget_userblock H5Pget_version H5Pget_vlen_mem_manager H5Pinsert H5Pisa_class H5Piterate H5Pmodify_filter H5Pregister H5Premove H5Premove_filter H5Pset H5Pset_alignment H5Pset_alloc_time H5Pset_btree_ratios H5Pset_buffer H5Pset_cache H5Pset_chunk H5Pset_deflate H5Pset_dxpl_mpio   || H5Pset_dxpl_multi H5Pset_edc_check H5Pset_external

H5Pset_family_offset H5Pset_fapl_core H5Pset_fapl_family H5Pset_fapl_log H5Pset_fapl_mpio   || H5Pset_fapl_mpiposix   || H5Pset_fapl_multi H5Pset_fapl_sec2 H5Pset_fapl_split H5Pset_fapl_stdio H5Pset_fclose_degree H5Pset_fill_time H5Pset_fill_value H5Pset_filter H5Pset_filter_callback H5Pset_fletcher32 H5Pset_gc_references H5Pset_hyper_cache * H5Pset_hyper_vector_size H5Pset_istore_k H5Pset_layout H5Pset_meta_block_size H5Pset_multi_type H5Pset_preserve H5Pset_shuffle H5Pset_sieve_buf_size H5Pset_sizes H5Pset_small_data_block_size H5Pset_sym_k H5Pset_szip H5Pset_userblock H5Pset_vlen_mem_manager H5Punregister ||  Available only in the parallel HDF5 library.

The FORTRAN90 Interfaces:
In general, each FORTRAN90 subroutine performs exactly the same task as the corresponding C function.

General Property List Operations h5pcreate_f h5pget_class_f h5pcopy_f h5pclose_f Generic Properties h5pcreate_class_f h5pregister_f h5pinsert_f h5pset_f h5pexist_f h5pget_size_f h5pget_nprops_f h5pget_class_name_f h5pget_class_parent_f h5pisa_class_f h5pget_f h5pequal_f h5pcopy_prop_f h5premove_f h5punregister_f h5pclose_list_f h5pclose_class_f File Creation Properties h5pget_version_f h5pset_userblock_f h5pget_userblock_f h5pset_sizes_f h5pget_sizes_f h5pset_sym_k_f h5pget_sym_k_f h5pset_istore_k_f h5pget_istore_k_f

File Close Properties h5pset_fclose_degree_f h5pget_fclose_degree_f Dataset Creation Properties h5pset_layout_f h5pget_layout_f h5pset_chunk_f h5pget_chunk_f h5pset_deflate_f h5pset_fill_value_f h5pget_fill_value_f h5pfill_value_defined_f h5pset_fill_time_f h5pget_fill_time_f h5pset_alloc_time_f h5pget_alloc_time_f h5pset_filter_f h5pget_nfilters_f h5pget_filter_f h5pget_filter_by_id_f h5pmodify_filter_f h5premove_filter_f h5pset_fletcher32_f h5pset_shuffle_f h5pset_szip_f h5pset_external_f h5pget_external_count_f h5pget_external_f       ||  Available only in the parallel HDF5 library.

File Access Properties h5pget_driver_f h5pset_meta_block_size_f h5pget_meta_block_size_f h5pset_sieve_buf_size_f h5Pget_sieve_buf_size_f h5pset_stdio_f h5pget_stdio_f h5pset_sec2_f h5pset_alignment_f h5pget_alignment_f h5pset_fapl_mpio_f   || h5pget_fapl_mpio_f   || h5pset_fapl_mpiposix_f   || h5pget_fapl_mpiposix_f   || h5pset_family_f h5pget_family_f h5pset_fapl_multi_f h5pget_fapl_multi_f h5pset_cache_f h5pget_cache_f h5pset_split_f h5pget_split_f h5pset_gc_references_f h5pget_gc_references_f Dataset Access, Memory, and Transfer Properties h5pset_buffer_f h5pget_buffer_f h5pset_preserve_f h5pget_preserve_f h5pset_edc_check_f h5pget_edc_check_f h5pset_hyper_cache_f h5pget_hyper_cache_f h5pset_hyper_vector_size_f h5pget_hyper_vector_size_f h5pset_btree_ratios_f h5pget_btree_ratios_f h5pset_dxpl_mpio_f   || h5pget_dxpl_mpio_f   ||   h5pset_small_data_block_size_f h5pget_small_data_block_size_f

Filter Behavior in HDF5:
Filters can be inserted into the HDF5 pipeline to perform functions such as compression and conversion. As such, they are a very flexible aspect of HDF5; for example, a user-defined filter could provide encryption for an HDF5 dataset.

A filter can be declared as either required or optional. Required is the default status; optional status must be explicitly declared.

A required filter that fails or is not defined causes an entire output operation to fail; if it was applied when the data was written, such a filter will cause an input operation to fail.

The following table summarizes required filter behavior.

An optional filter can be set for an HDF5 dataset even when the filter is not available. Such a filter can then be applied to the dataset when it becomes available on the original system or when the file containing the dataset is processed on a system on which it is available.

A filter can be declared as optional through the use of the H5Z_FLAG_OPTIONAL flag with H5Pset_filter.

Consider a situation where one is creating files that will normally be used only on systems where the optional (and fictional) filter FILTER_Z is routinely available. One can create those files on system A, which lacks FILTER_Z, create chunked datasets in the files with FILTER_Z defined in the dataset creation property list, and even write data to those datasets. The dataset object header will indicate that FILTER_Z has been associated with this dataset. But since system A does not have FILTER_Z, dataset chunks will be written without it being applied.

HDF5 has a mechanism for determining whether chunks are actually written with the filters specified in the object header, so while the filter remains unavailable, system A will be able to read the data. Once the file is moved to system B, where FILTER_Z is available, HDF5 will apply FILTER_Z to any data rewritten or new data written in these datasets. Dataset chunks that have been written on system B will then be unreadable on system A; chunks that have not been re-written since being written on system A will remain readable on system A. All chunks will be readable on system B.

The following table summarizes optional filter behavior.

The above principles apply generally in the use of HDF5 optional filters insofar as HDF5 does as much as possible to complete an operation when an optional filter is unavailable. (The SZIP filter is an exception to this rule; see H5Pset_szip for details.)

Notes:
Filters can be applied only to chunked datasets; they cannot be used with other dataset storage methods, such as contiguous, compact, or external datasets.

Dataset elements of variable-length and dataset region reference datatypes are stored in separate structures in the file called heaps. Filters cannot currently be applied to these heaps.
 

The HDF Group Help Desk:
Describes HDF5 Release 1.6.10, November 2009