Chapter 15

HDF Command-Line Utilities

15.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter describes a number of command-line utilities that are available for working with HDF files.

The HDF command-line utilities are application programs that are executed from the UNIX shell prompt. These utilities serve the following needs of the HDF developer.

They make it possible to perform, at the command line level, common operations on HDF files without having to resort to custom-programmed utilities to do these operations.
They provide the capability for performing operations on HDF files that would be very difficult to do with custom-programmed utilities.

Table 15A lists the names and descriptions of the utilities described in this chapter.

TABLE 15A - The HDF Command-Line Utilities

Name Description

hdfls Displays the tags, reference numbers, and lengths of data elements (Section 15.2 on page 412)

hdfed Displays the contents of an HDF file and allows limited manipulation of the data (Section 15.3 on page 413)

fp2hdf Converts floating-point data to HDF floating-point format and/or HDF 8-bit raster image format (RIS8) (Section 15.4 on page 422)

ristosds Converts a set of RIS8 HDF files into a single three-dimensional SDS HDF file (Section 15.5 on page 425)

r8tohdf Converts one or more 8-bit raster images in raw format to the HDF RIS8 format and writes them to a file, optionally with palettes (Section 15.6 on page 425)

hdftor8 Converts raster images and/or palettes from the HDF format to the raw format and stores them in two sets of files - one for images and the other for palettes (Section 15.7 on page 426)

hdfcomp Compresses 8-bit raster images from an HDF file, storing them in a new HDF file (Section 15.8 on page 427)

r24hdf8 Converts raw RGB 24-bit images to an RIS8 with a palette (Section 15.9 on page 427)

paltohdf Converts a raw palette to the HDF format (Section 15.11 on page 428)

hdftopal Converts a palette in an HDF file to a raw palette format (Section 15.12 on page 428)

hdfpack Compresses an HDF file, reading all of the objects in the file and writing them to a new HDF file (Section 15.13 on page 429)

vmake Creates vsets

vshow Displays vset information (Section 15.14 on page 429)

hdp Displays general information about the contents of an HDF file (Section 15.15 on page 430)

hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu

HDF User's Guide - 07/21/98, NCSA HDF Development Group.