If HDF5 data is to be written to or read from a file, that file must first be explicitly created or opened with the appropriate file driver and access privileges. Once all work with data is complete, the file must be explicitly closed.

This chapter discusses the following:

• File access modes
• Creating, opening, and closing files
• The use of file creation property lists
• The use of file access property lists, including low-level file drivers

The remaining sections of this chapter require a brief summary of the HDF5 mechanisms for handling file access modes, file access properties and file creation properties, and the use of low-level file drivers. These topics are discussed briefly in the following paragraphs. This chapter assumes an understanding of the material presented in the data model chapter, "HDF5 Data Model and File Structure."

File access modes

There are two issues regarding file access:

• What should happen when a new file is created but a file of the same name already exists? Should the create action fail or should the existing file be overwritten?
• Is a file to be opened with read-only or read-write access?

Four access modes address these concerns, with H5Fcreate and H5Fopen each accepting two of them:

• H5Fcreate accepts H5F_ACC_TRUNC or H5F_ACC_EXCL.
• H5Fopen accepts H5F_ACC_RDONLY or H5F_ACC_RDWR.

The HDF5 library assumes that existing files are implicitly opened for read access; passing the H5F_ACC_RDWR parameter to H5Fopen allows read-write access to the file.

H5Fcreate assumes read-write access. Passing H5F_ACC_TRUNC forces the truncation of an existing file; otherwise H5Fcreate does not permit overwriting an existing file.

File creation and file access properties

File creation and file access property lists control the more complex aspects of creating and accessing files.

File creation property lists control characteristics of a file, such as the size of the user-block, a user-definable data block; the size of data address parameters; properties of the B-trees are used to manage the data in the file; and certain HDF5 library versioning information.

See “File creation properties,” below, for a more detailed discussion of file creation properties and appropriate references to the HDF5 Reference Manual. If you have no special requirements for these file characteristics, you can simply specify H5P_DEFAULT, for the default file creation property list, when a file creation property list is called for.

File access property lists control properties and means of accessing a file, such as data alignment characteristics, meta data block and cache sizes, data sieve buffer size, garbage collection settings, and parallel I/O. Data alignment, meta data block and cache sizes, and data sieve buffer size are factors in improving I/O performance.

See “File access properties,” below, for a more detailed discussion of file access properties and appropriate references to the HDF5 Reference Manual. If you have no special requirements for these file access characteristics, you can simply specify H5P_DEFAULT, for the default file access property list, when a file access property list is called for.

Low-level file drivers

The concept of an HDF5 file is actually rather abstract: the address space for what is normally thought of as an HDF5 file might correspond to any of the following at the storage level:

• Single file on a standard file system
• Multiple files on a standard file system
• Multiple files on a parallel file system
• Block of memory within an application’s memory space
• More abstract situations, such as virtual files or streaming I/O

HDF5 accesses a file, i.e., the address space, through various types of low-level file drivers. The default HDF5 file storage layout is as an unbuffered permanent file, which is a single, contiguous file on local disk. Alternative layouts are designed to suit the needs of a variety of systems, environments, and applications.

2. Programming Model

Figure 1: UML model for an HDF5 file and its file creation and file access property lists

2.1 Creating a new file

The programming model for creating a new HDF5 file can be summarized as follows:

• Define file creation property list (optional).
• Define file access property list, including low-level file driver (optional).
• Create file.

First consider the simple case where we wish to rely on the HDF5 defaults. All we have to do is create the file:

    file_id = H5Fcreate ("SampleFile.h5", 
        H5F_ACC_EXCL, H5P_DEFAULT,
        H5P_DEFAULT)

Now consider the more generalized case, in which we define file creation and access property lists (though we do not assign any properties), specify that H5Fcreate should fail if SampleFile.h5 already exists, and create a new file named SampleFile.h5. The example does not specify a driver, so the default driver, SEC2 or H5FD_SEC2, will be used.

    fcplist_id = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_CREATE)
       <...set desired file creation properties...>
    faplist_id = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_ACCESS)
       <...set desired file access properties...>
    file_id = H5Fcreate ("SampleFile.h5", H5F_ACC_EXCL, fcplist_id, faplist_id)

Notes: A root group is automatically created in a file when the file is first created. File property lists, once defined, can be reused when another file is created within the same application.

Now consider an example in which we re-open SampleFile.h5. For the sake of the example, we will open it with a different driver, stdio or H5FD_STDIO, and declare read-only access.

faplist_id = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_ACCESS)
status = H5Pset_fapl_stdio (faplist_id)
file_id = H5Fopen ("SampleFile.h5", H5F_ACC_RDONLY, faplist_id)

2.3 Closing a file

The programming model for closing an HDF5 file is very simple:

• Close file.

We close SampleFile.h5 with the following line of code.

status = H5Fclose (file_id)

Note that H5Fclose flushes all unwritten data to storage. file_id is the identifier returned for SampleFile.h5 by H5Fopen.

More comprehensive discussions regarding all of these steps are provided below.

3. Using h5dump

The HDF5 distribution includes a command-line utility, h5dump, which provides a straight-forward means of inspecting the contents of an HDF5 file. h5dump thus enables a programmer to verify that a program is generating the intended HDF5 file. h5dump displays ASCII output formatted according to the HDF5 DDL grammar.

The following h5dump command will display the contents of SampleFile.h5:

h5dump SampleFile.h5 

If no datasets or groups have been created in and no data has been written to the file, the output will look something like the following:

HDF5 "SampleFile.h5" {
GROUP "/" {
}
}

Note that the root group, indicated above by /, was automatically created when the file was created.

h5dump is fully described on the Tools page of the HDF5 Reference Manual. The HDF5 DDL grammar is fully described in the document DDL in BNF for HDF5, an element of this HDF5 User's Guide.

4. File Function Summaries

4.1 File functions

4.2 File creation property list functions

4.3 File access property list functions (except file drivers)

4.4 File driver functions

5. Creating or Opening an HDF5 File

5.1 Defining the file creation and file access property lists

This step is optional; you can always rely on the default property lists in creating a new file and the default or previously-defined file access property list with an existing file.

See “File Property Lists,” below, for details of setting property list values. See “File Access Modes,” in the introduction to this chapter above, for the complete list of file access flags and their descriptions.

5.2 Working with the file

New HDF5 files are created and opened with H5Fcreate; existing files are opened with H5Fopen. Both functions return an object identifier, which must eventually be released by calling H5Fclose.

To create a new file, call H5Fcreate:

         hid_t H5Fcreate (const char *name, unsigned flags,
         hid_t fcpl_id, hid_t fapl_id)

H5Fcreate creates a new file named name in the current directory. The file is opened with read and write access; if the H5F_ACC_TRUNC flag is set, any pre-existing file of the same name in the same directory is truncated. If either H5F_ACC_TRUNC is not set or H5F_ACC_EXCL is set and if a file of the same name exists, H5Fcreate will fail.

The new file is created with the properties specified in the property lists fcpl_id and fapl_id. Specifying H5P_DEFAULT for either the creation or access property list calls for the library's default creation or access properties.

If H5Fcreate successfully creates the file, it returns a file identifier for the new file. This identifier will be used by the application any time an object identifier, an OID, for the file is required. Once the application has finished working with a file, the identifier should be released and the file closed with H5Fclose.

To open an existing file, call H5Fopen:

         hid_t H5Fopen (const char *name, unsigned flags, hid_t fapl_id)

H5Fopen opens an existing file with read-write access if H5F_ACC_RDWR is set and read-only access if H5F_ACC_RDONLY is set.

fapl_id is the file access property list identifier. Alternatively, H5P_DEFAULT indicates that the application relies on the default I/O access parameters. Creating and changing access property lists is documented further below.

A file can be opened more than once via multiple H5Fopen calls. Each such call returns a unique file identifier and the file can be accessed through any of these file identifiers as long as they remain valid. Each of these file identifiers must be released by calling H5Fclose when it is no longer needed.

6. Closing an HDF5 File

H5Fclose both closes a file and releases the file identifier returned by H5Fopen or H5Fcreate. H5Fclose must be called when an application is done working with a file; while the HDF5 library makes every effort to maintain file integrity, failure to call H5Fclose may result in the file being abandoned in an incomplete or corrupted state.

To close a file, call H5Fclose:

         herr_t H5Fclose (hid_t file_id)

This function releases resources associated with an open file. After closing a file, the file identifier, file_id, cannnot be used again as it will be undefined.

H5Fclose fulfills three purposes: to ensure that the file is left in an uncorrupted state, to ensure that all data has been written to the file, and to release resources. Use H5Fflush if you wish to ensure that all data has been written to the file but it is premature to close it.

Note regarding serial mode behavior: When H5Fclose is called in serial mode, it closes the file and terminates new access to it, but it does not terminate access to objects that remain individually open within the file. That is, if H5Fclose is called for a file but one or more objects within the file remain open, those objects will remain accessible until they are individually closed. To illustrate, assume that a file, fileA, contains a dataset, data_setA, and that both are open when H5Fclose is called for fileA. data_setA will remain open and accessible, including writable, until it is explicitly closed. The file will be automatically and finally closed once all objects within it have been closed.

Note regarding parallel mode behavior: Once H5Fclose has been called in parallel mode, access is no longer available to any object within the file.

7. File Property Lists

Additional information regarding file structure and access are passed to H5Fcreate and H5Fopen through property list objects. Property lists provide a portable and extensible method of modifying file properties via simple API functions. There are two kinds of file-related property lists:

• File creation property lists
• File access property lists

In the following subsections, we discuss only one file creation property, user-block size, in detail as a model for the user. Other file creation and file access properties are mentioned and defined briefly, but the model is not expanded for each; complete syntax, parameter, and usage information for every property list function is provided in the “H5P: Property List Interface” chapter of the HDF5 Reference Manual.

7.1 Creating a property list

If you do not wish to rely on the default file creation and access properties, you must first create a property list with H5Pcreate.

hid_t H5Pcreate (hid_t cls_id)

type is the type of property list being created. In this case, the appropriate values are H5P_FILE_CREATE for a file creation property list and H5P_FILE_ACCESS for a file access property list.

Thus, the following calls create first a file creation property list then a file access property list with identifiers fcpl_id and fapl_id, respectively:

fcpl_id = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_CREATE) 
fapl_id = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_ACCESS) 

7.2 File creation properties

File creation property lists control the file meta data, which is maintained in the super block of the file. These properties are used only when a file is first created.

User-block size

         herr_t H5Pset_userblock (hid_t plist, hsize_t size)
         herr_t H5Pget_userblock (hid_t plist, hsize_t *size)

The user-block is a fixed-length block of data located at the beginning of the file and which is ignored by the HDF5 library. This block is specifically set aside for any data or information that developers determine to be useful to their application but that will not be used by the HDF5 library. The size of the user-block is defined in bytes and may be set to any power of two, with a minimum size of 512 bytes (i.e. 512, 1024, 2048, etc). This property is set with H5Pset_userblock and queried via H5Pget_userblock.

For example, if an application was thought to reqire a 4K user-block, that could be set with the following function call:
         status = H5Pset_userblock(fcpl_id, 4096)
The property list could later be queried with
         status = H5Pget_userblock(fcpl_id, size)
and the value 4096 would be returned in the parameter size.

Other properties, below, are set and queried in exactly the same manner. Syntax and usage are detailed in “H5P: Property List Interface” in the HDF5 Reference Manual.

Offset and length sizes

This property specifies the number of bytes used to store the offset and length of objects in the HDF5 file. Values of 2, 4, and 8 bytes are currently supported to accommodate 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit file address spaces.

These properties are set and queried via H5Pset_sizes and H5Pget_sizes.

Symbol table parameters

The size of symbol table B-trees can be controlled by setting the 1/2-rank and 1/2-node size parameters of the B-tree.

These properties are set and queried via H5Pset_sym_k and H5Pget_sym_k.

Indexed storage parameters

The size of indexed storage B-trees can be controlled by setting the 1/2-rank and 1/2-node size parameters of the B-tree.

These properties are set and queried via H5Pset_istore_k and H5Pget_istore_k.

Version information

Various objects in an HDF5 file may over time appear in different versions. The HDF5 library keeps track of the version of each object in the file.

Version information is retrieved via H5Pget_version.

7.3 File access properties

This section discusses file access properties that are not related to the low-level file drivers. File drivers are discussed separately in “Alternate File Storage Layouts and Low-level File Drivers,” later in this chapter.

File access property lists control various aspects of file I/O and structure.

Data alignment

Sometimes file access is faster if certain data elements are aligned in a specific manner. This can be controlled by setting alignment properties via the H5Pset_alignment function. Two values are involved,

• a threshhold value and
• an alignment interval.

Any allocation request at least as large as the threshold will be aligned on an address that is a multiple of the alignment interval.

Meta data block allocation size

Meta data typically exists as very small chunks of data; storing meta data elements in a file without blocking them can result in hundreds or thousands of very small data elements in the file. This can result in a highly fragmented file and seriously impede I/O. By blocking meta data elements, these small elements can be grouped in larger sets, thus alleviating both problems.

H5Pset_meta_block_size sets the minimum size in bytes of meta data block allocations. H5Pget_meta_block_size retrieves the current minimum meta data block allocation size.

Meta data cache

Meta data and raw data I/O speed are often governed by the size and frequency of disk reads and writes. In many cases, the speed can be substantially improved by the use of an appropriate cache.

H5Pset_cache sets the minimum cache size for both meta data and raw data and a preemption value for raw data chunks. H5Pget_cache retrieves the current values.

Data sieve buffer size

Data sieve buffering is used by certain file drivers to speed data I/O, most commonly when working with dataset hyperslabs. For example, using a buffer large enough to hold several pieces of a dataset as it is read in for hyperslab selections will boost performance noticeably.

H5Pset_sieve_buf_size sets the maximum size in bytes of the data sieve buffer. H5Pget_sieve_buf_size retrieves the current maximum size of the data sieve buffer.

Garbage collection references

Dataset region references and other reference types use space in an HDF5 file’s global heap. If garbage collection is on (1) and the user passes in an uninitialized value in a reference structure, the heap might become corrupted. When garbage collection is off (0), however, and the user re-uses a reference, the previous heap block will be orphaned and not returned to the free heap space. When garbage collection is on, the user must initialize the reference structures to 0 or risk heap corruption.

H5Pset_gc_references sets the garbage collecting references flag.

8. Alternate File Storage Layouts and Low-level File Drivers

The concept of an HDF5 file is actually rather abstract: the address space for what is normally thought of as an HDF5 file might correspond to any of the following:

• Single file on standard file system
• Multiple files on standard file system
• Multiple files on parallel file system
• Block of memory within application's memory space
• More abstract situations, such as virtual files or streaming I/O

HDF5 employs an extremely flexible mechanism called the virtual file layer, or VFL, for file I/O. A full understanding of the VFL is only necessary if you plan to write your own drivers (see "Virtual File Layer"  and "List of VFL Functions" in the HDF5 Technical Notes). For our purposes here, it is sufficient to know that the low-level drivers used for file I/O reside in the VFL, as illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 2: I/O path from application through VFL and low-level drivers to storage level

As mentioned above, HDF5 applications access HDF5 files through various low-level file drivers. The default HDF5 file storage layout is as an unbuffered permanent file, which is a single, contiguous file on local disk. The default driver for that layout is the SEC2 driver, H5FD_SEC2. Alternative layouts and drivers are designed to suit the needs of a variety of systems, environments, and applications.

The following table lists the supported drivers distributed with the HDF5 library and their associated file storage layouts.

Note that the low-level file drivers manage alternative file storage layouts. Alternative dataset storage layouts, such as chunking, compression, and external dataset storage, are orthogonal to file storage layout and are managed independently.

If an application requires a special-purpose low-level driver, the VFL provides a public API for creating one. But that activity is beyond the scope of this document (see "Virtual File Layer"  and "List of VFL Functions" in the HDF5 Technical Notes).

8.1 Identifying the previously-used file driver

When creating a new HDF5 file, no history exists, so the file driver must be specified if it is to be other than the default.

When opening existing files, however, the application may need to determine which low-level driver was used to create the file. The function H5Pget_driver is used for this purpose.

hid_t H5Pget_driver (hid_t fapl_id)

H5Pget_driver returns a constant identifying the low-level driver for the access property list fapl_id. For example, if the file was created with the SEC2 driver, H5Pget_driver returns H5FD_SEC2.

fapl_id has presumably been previously identified as the access property list for the file being opened.

If the application opens an HDF5 file without both determining the driver used to create the file and setting up the use of that driver, the HDF5 library will examine the Super Block and the Driver Definition Block to identify the driver. See the HDF5 File Format Specification for detailed descriptions of the Super Block and the Driver Definition Block.

8.2 Unbuffered permanent files -- SEC2 driver

The SEC2 driver, H5FD_SEC2, uses functions from section 2 of the Posix manual to access unbuffered files stored on a local file system. The HDF5 library buffers meta data regardless of the low-level driver, but using this driver prevents data from being buffered again by the lowest layers of the library.

The function H5Pset_fapl_sec2 sets the file access properties to use the SEC2 driver.

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_sec2 (hid_t fapl_id)

Any previously-defined driver properties are erased from the property list.

Additional parameters may be added to this function in the future. Since there are no additional variable settings associated with the SEC2 driver, there is no H5Pget_fapl_sec2 function.

8.3 Buffered permanent files -- STDIO driver

The STDIO driver, H5FD_STDIO also accesses permanent files in a local file system, but with an additional layer of buffering beneath the HDF5 library.

The function H5Pset_fapl_stdio sets the file access properties to use the STDIO driver.

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_stdio (hid_t fapl_id)

Any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list.

Additional parameters may be added to this function in the future. Since there are no additional variable settings associated with the STDIO driver, there is no H5Pget_fapl_stdio function.

8.4 File families -- FAMILY driver

HDF5 files can become quite large, creating problems on systems that do not support files larger than 2 gigabytes. The HDF5 file family mechanism is designed to solve the problems this creates by simply splitting the HDF5 file address space across several smaller files. This structure does nothing to segregate meta data and raw data; they are mixed in the address space just as they would be in a single contiguous file.

HDF5 applications access such a family of files via the FAMILY driver, H5FD_FAMILY. The functions H5Pset_fapl_family and H5Pget_fapl_family are used to manage file family properties:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_family (hid_t fapl_id, hsize_t memb_size,
         hid_t member_properties)

herr_t H5Pget_fapl_family (hid_t fapl_id, hsize_t *memb_size,
         hid_t *member_properties)

Each member of the family is the same logical size, though the size and disk storage reported by file system listing tools (e.g., 'ls -l' on a UNIX system or the detailed folder listing on a Macintosh or Microsoft Windows system) may be substantially smaller. The name passed to H5Fcreate or H5Fopen should include a printf(3c)-style integer format specifier which will be replaced with the family member number. The first family member is numbered zero (0).

H5Pset_fapl_family sets the access properties to use the FAMILY driver; any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list. member_properties will serve as the file access property list for each member of the file family. memb_size specifies the logical size, in bytes, of each family member. memb_size is used only when creating a new file or truncating an existing file; otherwise the member size is determined by the size of the first member of the family being opened. Note: If the size of the off_t type is four bytes, the maximum family member size is usually 2^31-1 because the byte at offset 2,147,483,647 is generally inaccessible.

H5Pget_fapl_family is used to retrieve file family properties. If the file access property list is set to use the FAMILY driver, member_properties will be returned with a pointer to a copy of the appropriate member access property list. If memb_size is non-null, it will contain the logical size, in bytes, of family members.

Additional parameters may be added to these functions in the future.

UNIX tools and an HDF5 utility

It occasionally becomes necessary to repartition a file family. A command-line utility for this purpose, h5repart, is distributed with the HDF5 library.

h5repart [-v] [-b block_size[suffix]] [-m member_size[suffix]] source destination

h5repart repartitions an HDF5 file by copying the source file or file family to the destination file or file family, preserving holes in the underlying UNIX files. Families are used for the source and/or destination if the name includes a printf-style integer format such as %d. The -v switch prints input and output file names on the standard error stream for progress monitoring, -b sets the I/O block size (the default is 1kB), and -m sets the output member size if the destination is a family name (the default is 1GB). block_size and member_size may be suffixed with the letters g, m, or k for GB, MB, or kB respectively.

The h5repart utility is fully described on the Tools page of the HDF5 Reference Manual.

An existing HDF5 file can be split into a family of files by running the file through split(1) on a UNIX system and numbering the output files. However, the HDF5 library is lazy about extending the size of family members, so a valid file cannot generally be created by concatenation of the family members.

Splitting the file and rejoining the segments by concatenation (split(1) and cat(1) on UNIX systems) does not generate files with holes; holes are preserved only through the use of h5repart.

8.5 Multiple meta data and raw data files -- MULTI driver

In some circumstances, it is useful to separate meta data from raw data and some types of meta data from other types of meta data. Situations that would benefit from use of the MULTI driver include the following:

• In networked situations where the small meta data files can be kept on local disks but larger raw data files must be stored on remote remote media
• In cases where the raw data is extremely large
• In situations requiring frequent access to meta data held in RAM while the raw data can be efficiently held on disk.

The MULTI driver, H5FD_MULTI, provides a mechanism for segregating raw data and different types of meta data into multiple files. The functions H5Pset_fapl_multi and H5Pget_fapl_multi are used to manage access properties for these multiple files:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_multi (hid_t fapl_id, const H5FD_mem_t *memb_map,
         const hid_t *memb_fapl, const char * const *memb_name,
         const haddr_t *memb_addr, hbool_t relax)

herr_t H5Pget_fapl_multi (hid_t fapl_id, const H5FD_mem_t *memb_map,
         const hid_t *memb_fapl, const char **memb_name,
         const haddr_t *memb_addr, hbool_t *relax)

H5Pset_fapl_multi sets the file access properties to use the MULTI driver; any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list. With the MULTI driver invoked, the application will provide a base name to H5Fopen or H5Fcreate. The files will be named by that base name as modified by the rule indicated in memb_name. File access will be governed by the file access property list memb_properties.

See H5Pset_fapl_multi and H5Pget_fapl_multi in the HDF5 Reference Manual for complete descriptions of these functions and their usage.

Additional parameters may be added to these functions in the future.

8.6 Split meta data and raw data files -- SPLIT driver

The SPLIT driver, H5FD_SPLIT, is a limited case of the MULTI driver, creating exactly two files: one containing all the meta data and another for raw data.

The function H5Pset_fapl_split is used to manage SPLIT file access properties:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_split (hid_t access_properties, const char *meta_extension, hid_t meta_properties, const char *raw_extension, hid_t raw_properties

H5Pset_fapl_split sets the file access properties to use the SPLIT driver; any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list.

With the SPLIT driver invoked, the application will provide a base file name, file_name to H5Fcreate or H5Fopen. The meta data and raw data files in storage will then be named file_name.meta_extension and file_name.raw_extension, respectively. For example, if meta_extension is defined as .meta and raw_extension is defined as .raw, the final filenames will be file_name.meta and file_name.raw.

Each file can have its own file access property list. This allows the creative use of other low-level file drivers. For instance, the meta data file can be held in RAM and accessed via the CORE driver while the raw data file is stored on disk and accessed via the SEC2 driver. Meta data file access will be governed by the file access property list in meta_properties. Raw data file access will be governed by the file access property list in raw_properties.

Additional parameters may be added to these functions in the future. Since there are no additional variable settings associated with the SPLIT driver, there is no H5Pget_fapl_split function.

8.7 Parallel I/O with MPI I/O -- MPI driver

Most of the low-level file drivers described here are for use with serial applications on serial systems. Parallel environments, on the other hand, require a parallel low-level driver. HDF5 relies on MPI I/O in parallel environments and the MPI driver, H5FD_MPI, for parallel file access.

The functions H5Pset_fapl_mpio and H5Pget_fapl_mpio are used to manage parallel file access properties.

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_mpio (hid_t fapl_id, MPI_Comm comm,
         MPI_info info)

herr_t H5Pget_fapl_mpio (hid_t fapl_id, MPI_Comm *comm,
         MPI_info *info)

The file access properties managed by H5Pset_fapl_mpio and retrieved by H5Pget_fapl_mpio are the MPI communicator, comm, and the MPI info object, info.

comm is the MPI communicator to be used for file open. info is the MPI info object, an information object much like an HDF5 property list, to be used for file open. Both are defined in MPI_FILE_OPEN of MPI-2.

The communicator and the info object are saved in the file access property list fapl_id. fapl_id can then be passed to MPI_File_open to create and/or open the file.

This function does not create duplicate comm or info objects. Any modification to either object after this function call returns may have an undetermined effect on the access property list; users should not modify either of the comm or info objects while they are defined in a property list.

H5Pset_fapl_mpio and H5Pget_fapl_mpio are available only in the parallel HDF5 library and are not collective functions. The MPI driver is available only in the parallel HDF5 library.

Additional parameters may be added to these functions in the future.

8.8 Buffered temporary files in memory -- CORE driver

There are several situations in which it is it is reasonable, sometimes even required, to maintain a file entirely in system memory. You might want to do so if, for example, either of the following conditions apply:

• Performance requirements are so stringent that disk latency is a limiting factor.
• You are working with small, temporary files that will not be retained and, thus, need not be written to storage media.

The CORE driver, H5FD_CORE, provides a mechanism for creating and managing such in-memory files. The functions H5Pset_fapl_core and H5Pget_fapl_core manage CORE file access properties:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_core (hid_t access_properties,
         size_t block_size, hbool_t backing_store)

herr_t H5Pget_fapl_core (hid_t access_properties,
         size_t *block_size), hbool_t *backing_store)

H5Pset_fapl_core sets the file access property list to use the CORE driver; any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list.

Memory for the file will always be allocated in units of the specified block_size.

backing_store is a boolean flag indicating whether to write the file contents to disk when the file is closed. If backing_store is set to 1 (TRUE), the file contents are flushed to a file with the same name as the CORE file when the file is closed or access to the file is terminated in memory. If backing_store is set to 0 (FALSE), the file is not saved.

If the file access property list is set to use the CORE driver, H5Pget_fapl_core will return block_size and backing_store with the relevant file access property settings.

Note the following important points regarding in-memory files:

• Local temporary files are created and accessed directly from memory without ever being written to disk.
• Total file size must not exceed the available virtual memory.
• Only one HDF5 file identifier can be opened for the file, the identifier returned by H5Fcreate. The name assigned in H5Fcreate is used only if backing_store is set and cannot be used with H5Fopen to obtain a new file identifier. H5Fopen will always fail.
• The file will be discarded when access is terminated unless backing_store is set to 1.

Additional parameters may be added to these functions in the future.

8.9 Streaming I/O -- STREAM driver

The STREAM driver is designed for situations where data is to be streamed across the network rather than written to a local file.

The functions H5Pset_fapl_stream and H5Pget_fapl_stream are used to manage streaming file access properties:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_stream (hid_t fapl_id, H5FD_stream_fapl_t *fapl)

herr_t H5Pget_fapl_stream (hid_t fapl_id, H5FD_stream_fapl_t *fapl)

H5Pset_fapl_stream sets up the use of the STREAM driver.

fapl_id is the identifier for the file access property list currently in use.

fapl is the streaming file access property list and is an H5FD_stream_fapl_t struct containing the following elements:

• increment specifies how much memory to allocate each time additional memory is required.
• socket is an external socket descriptor; if a valid socket argument is provided, that socket will be used.
• do_socket_io is a boolean value specifying whether to perform I/O on socket.
• backlog is the argument for the listen call.
• broadcast_fn is the broadcast callback function.
• broadcast_arg is the user argument to the broadcast callback function.

H5Pget_fapl_stream retrieves the values stored in the fapl struct.

H5Pset_fapl_stream and H5Pget_fapl_stream are not intended for use in parallel environments.

8.10 Access logging -- LOG driver

The LOG driver, H5FD_LOG, is designed for situations where it is necessary to log file access activity.

The function H5Pset_fapl_log is used to manage logging properties:

herr_t H5Pset_fapl_log (hid_t fapl_id, const char *logfile, unsigned int flags, size_t buf_size)

H5Pset_fapl_log sets the file access property list to use the LOG driver. File access characteristices are identical to access via the SEC2 driver. Any previously defined driver properties are erased from the property list.

Log records are written to the file logfile.

The following values of verbosity set the indicated logging levels:

There is no H5Pget_fapl_log function.

Additional parameters may be added to this function in the future.

9. Code Examples for Opening and Closing Files

9.1 Example using the H5ACC_TRUNC flag

The following example creates a new file with the default file creation and file access properties. Since H5Fcreate is called with the H5ACC_TRUNC flag, any existing file content is overwritten if the file already exists, i.e., it is truncated. If H5Fcreate should fail if the file already exists, use the flag H5ACC_TRUNC instead of H5ACC_TRUNC.

hid_t file;                                     /*  identifier   */

/* Create a new file using H5F_ACC_TRUNC access, default file 
 * creation properties, and default file access properties.      */
file = H5Fcreate(FILE, H5F_ACC_TRUNC, H5P_DEFAULT, H5P_DEFAULT);

/* Close the file.                                               */
status = H5Fclose(file); 

9.2 Example with file creation property list

This example shows how to create a file with 64-bit object offsets and lengths:

hid_t create_plist;
hid_t file_id;
create_plist = H5Pcreate(H5P_FILE_CREATE);
H5Pset_sizes(create_plist, 8, 8);
file_id = H5Fcreate("test.h5", H5F_ACC_TRUNC,
                    create_plist, H5P_DEFAULT);
    .
    .
    .
H5Fclose(file_id);

9.3 Example with file access property list

This example shows how to open an existing file for independent datasets access by MPI parallel I/O:

hid_t access_plist;
hid_t file_id;
access_plist = H5Pcreate(H5P_FILE_ACCESS);
H5Pset_fapl_mpi(access_plist, MPI_COMM_WORLD, MPI_INFO_NULL);

/* H5Fopen must be called collectively */
file_id = H5Fopen("test.h5", H5F_ACC_RDWR, access_plist); 
   .
   .
   .
/* H5Fclose must be called collectively */
H5Fclose(file_id);