Importing and Exporting Data (Development Environment)

Development Environment

Getting More Information About HDF

To use the MATLAB HDF interface functions effectively, you must use this documentation in conjunction with the official HDF documentation, available in many formats at the NCSA Web site (hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu). In particular, consult the following documentation:

The HDF User's Guide, which describes key HDF concepts and programming models and provides tutorial information about using the library routines
The HDF Reference Manual, which provides detailed reference information about the hundreds of HDF routines, their arguments, and return values

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has created an extension of HDF as one of the data standards for the Earth Observing System (EOS). For information about this extension to HDF, consult the official HDF-EOS documentation at the EOS Web site
(hdfeos.gsfc.nasa.gov/hdfeos/workshop.html).

Finally, for details about the syntax of the MATLAB HDF functions, consult the MATLAB online Function Reference. For most HDF routines, the MATLAB syntax is essentially the same as the HDF version; however, for certain routines, the MATLAB version has a different syntax.

HDF APIs Supported by MATLAB

The following table lists all the HDF APIs supported by MATLAB (listed alphabetically by acronym). The table includes the MATLAB utility functions API, named ML.

Application Programming Interface
Acronym
Description

Annotations
AN

Stores, manages, and retrieves text used to describe an HDF file or any of the data structures contained in the file.

General Raster Images
DF24 DFR8

Stores, manages, and retrieves raster images, their dimensions and palettes. It can also manipulate unattached palettes.

Note: Use the MATLAB functions imread and imwrite with HDF raster image formats.

HDF Utilities
H, HD, and HE

Provides functions to open and close HDF files and handle errors.

MATLAB HDF Utilities
ML

Provides utility functions that help you work with HDF files in the MATLAB environment.

Scientific Data
SD
Stores, manages, and retrieves multidimensional arrays of character or numeric data, along with their dimensions and attributes.

V Groups
V
Creates and retrieves groups of other HDF data objects, such as raster images or V data.

V Data
VS VF VH
Stores, manages, and retrieves multivariate data stored as records in a table.

Application Programming Interface	Acronym	Description
Annotations	`AN`	Stores, manages, and retrieves text used to describe an HDF file or any of the data structures contained in the file.
General Raster Images	`DF24 DFR8`	Stores, manages, and retrieves raster images, their dimensions and palettes. It can also manipulate unattached palettes. Note: Use the MATLAB functions `imread` and `imwrite` with HDF raster image formats.
HDF Utilities	`H, HD`, and `HE`	Provides functions to open and close HDF files and handle errors.
MATLAB HDF Utilities	`ML`	Provides utility functions that help you work with HDF files in the MATLAB environment.
Scientific Data	`SD`	Stores, manages, and retrieves multidimensional arrays of character or numeric data, along with their dimensions and attributes.
V Groups	`V`	Creates and retrieves groups of other HDF data objects, such as raster images or V data.
V Data	`VS VF VH`	Stores, manages, and retrieves multivariate data stored as records in a table.

Using the MATLAB HDF Utility API Using Low-Level File I/O Functions