8.2 File Name Extensions

The expected extensions for data files are as follows:

.dat

For ASCII, e.g., latlon.dat

.dab

For dBASE, e.g., latlon.dab

.bin

binary or anything that is not .dat or .dab, e.g., latlon.bin

The expected extension for format description files is .fmt, e.g., latlon.fmt. You should not use mixed case extensions for format description files if you want to take advantage of FreeForm ND's default search capabilities. If you explicitly specify the names of format description files on the command line, you can use mixed case extensions.

NOTE: Previous versions of FreeForm ND used variable description files

(formerly called format specification files) each of which contained variable descriptions for one file. Expected extensions for these files were .afm (ASCII), .bfm (binary), and .dfm (dBASE). Variable descriptions for one or more files can now be incorporated into a single format description file. It is recommended that you convert and combine (as appropriate) existing variable description files into format description files.