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NOTICE: This version of the NSF Unidata web site (archive.unidata.ucar.edu) is no longer being updated.
Current content can be found at unidata.ucar.edu.
To learn about what's going on, see About the Archive Site.
Russ, Thanks for the recommendation. Have you run into any cases where users have gotten a '.nc' file, but complained because a netCDF-3 tool they are using cannot open the netCDF-4 file? On Jun 6, 2011, at 3:24 PM, Russ Rew wrote: > Hi Chris, > >> What is the community convention for filename suffix for netCDF-4 files: .nc >> , .nc4, .h5? > > We encourage just using ".nc", but as you've indicated, it's only a > convention. The FAQ says: > > Why aren't different extensions used for the different formats, for > example ".nc3" and ".nc4"? > > The file extension used for netCDF files is purely a convention. The > netCDF libraries don't use the file extension. A user can currently > create a netCDF file with any extension, even one not consistent with > the format of the file. > > The ncgen utility uses ".nc" as a default extension for output, but > this can be overridden using the "-o" option to specify the name for > the output file. Recent versions of ncgen also have a "-k" option to > specify what kind of output file is desired, selecting any of the 4 > format variants, using either a numeric code or a text string. Most > other netCDF client software pays no attention to the file extension, > so using more explicit extensions by convention has no significant > drawbacks, except possibly causing confusion about format differences > that may not be important. > > --Russ -- Dr. Christopher Lynnes NASA/GSFC, Code 610.2 phone: 301-614-5185
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