MATLAB Programming

Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) Files
Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) Files
Hierarchical Data Format, Version 5, (HDF5) is a general-purpose,
machine-independent standard for storing scientific data in files, developed
by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). HDF5 is
used by a wide range of engineering and scientific fields that want a standard
way to store data so that it can be shared. For more information about the
HDF5 file format, read the HDF5 documentation available at the HDF Web
site (http://www.hdfgroup.org).
MATLAB provides both high-level and low-level access to HDF5 files. The
high-level access functions make it easy to read a data set from an HDF5
file or write a variable from the MATLAB workspace into an HDF5 file.
The MATLAB low-level interface provides direct access to the more than
200 functions in the HDF5 library. For more information, see the following
sections.
• “Using the MATLAB High-Level HDF5 Functions” on page 7-11
• “Using the MATLAB Low-Level HDF5 Functions” on page 7-26
Note For information about working with HDF4 data, which is a completely
separate, incompatible format, see “Hierarchical Data Format (HDF4) Files”
on page 7-35.
Using the MATLAB High-Level HDF5 Functions
The MATLAB high-level HDF5 functions provide an easy way to import data
or metadata from an HDF5 file, or write data to an HDF5 file. The following
sections provide more detail about using these functions.
• “Determining the Contents of an HDF5 File” on page 7-12
• “Importing Data from an HDF5 File” on page 7-15
• “Exporting Data to HDF5 Files” on page 7-16
• “Mapping HDF5 Data Types to MATLAB Data Types” on page 7-18
7-11