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2 Files

This chapter presents the interfaces of the PnetCDF functions that deal with a netCDF file or the whole PnetCDF library.

A netCDF file that has not yet been opened can only be referred to by its file name. Once a netCDF dataset is opened, it is referred to by a netCDF ID, which is a small non-negative integer returned when you create or open the file. A netCDF ID is much like a file descriptor in C or a logical unit number in FORTRAN. In any single program, the netCDF IDs of distinct opened netCDF files are distinct. A single netCDF file may be opened multiple times and will then have multiple distinct netCDF IDs; however at most one of the open instances of a single netCDF file should permit writing. When an opened netCDF file is closed, the ID is no longer associated with a netCDF file.

Functions that deal with the PnetCDF library include:

The operations supported on a netCDF file as a single object are:


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