Format description files accompany data files. A format description file can contain descriptions for one or more formats. You include descriptions for header, input, and output formats as appropriate. Format descriptions for more than one file may be included in a single format description file.
An example format description file is shown next. The sections that follow describe each element of a format description file.
/ This format description file is for / data files latlon.bin and latlon.dat. binary_data "Default binary format" latitude 1 4 long 6 longitude 5 8 long 6 ASCII_data "Default ASCII format" latitude 1 10 double 6 longitude 12 22 double 6
Lines 1 and 2 are comment lines. Lines 4 and 8 give the format type and title, as described in Section 3.4.1. Lines 5, 6, 9, and 10 contain variable descriptions, described in Section 3.4.2. Blank lines signify the end of a format description
You can include blank lines between format descriptions and comments in a format description file as necessary. Comment lines begin with a slash (/). FreeForm ND ignores comments.