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| HDF5 Last Updated on 2026-03-23 The HDF5 Field Guide

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Learning the Basics

Navigate back: Main / Getting Started with HDF5

# Introduction

The following topics cover the basic features in HDF5. The topics build on each other and are intended to be completed in order. Some sections use files created in earlier sections. The examples used can also be found on the Examples from Learning the Basics page and in the HDF5 source code (C, C++, Fortran).

# Topics

- HDF5 File Organization
- The HDF5 API
- Programming Issues
- Creating an HDF5 File
- Creating a Dataset
- Reading From and Writing To a Dataset
- Creating an Attribute
- Creating an Group
- Creating Groups using Absolute and Relative Names
- Creating Datasets in Groups
- Reading From or Writing To a Subset of a Dataset
- Datatype Basics
- Property Lists Basics
- Dataset Storage Layout
- Extendible Datasets
- Compressed Datasets
- Discovering the Contents of an HDF5 File
- Learning the basics QUIZ
- Learning the basics QUIZ with Answers
- Compiling HDF5 Applications
- Training Videos

Navigate back: Main / Getting Started with HDF5