Re: Binary file I/O
- Subject: [mg2960] Re: Binary file I/O
- From: ianc (Ian Collier)
- Date: 17 Jan 1996 05:19:21 -0600
- Approved: usenet@wri.com
- Distribution: local
- Newsgroups: wri.mathgroup
- Organization: Wolfram Research, Inc.
- Sender: mj at wri.com
In article <4dd2qp$al at dragonfly.wri.com>, Matt Reed <mreed at umich.edu> wrote:
> I am working with large datasets that I would prefer to store as binary
> data rather than ASCII. These files could be, for example, single- or
> double-precision numbers. What is the most efficient way of handling
> input and output of such datafiles in Mma? I've considered writing an
> external translator to read the data and pipe it to Mma in ASCII, but I
> wonder if it is possible to access binary data in a file directly.
>
> Matt Reed
> University of Michigan
You could try using Utilities`BinaryFiles`, one of the Standard
Mathematica Packages included in the Mathematica distribution.
It is documented on pages 403-409 of the Guide to Standard
Mathematica Packages Technical Report.
You might also want to look at FastBinaryFiles on MathSource:
0206-783: FastBinaryFiles: A MathLink Program for Fast Reading
and Writing of Binary Files
Todd Gayley
FastBinaryFiles is a MathLink program and Mathematica package
for fast reading and writing of binary files. It is intended
as a replacement for the standard package Utilities`BinaryFiles`,
which is slow and cannot be used under MS Windows. A
ready-to-run executable is available for Mac and Windows; others
will have to build the program from the single source file,
binary.tm. Note that there is no separate package (.m) file. If
you want to use the program on Mac or Windows, the
executable is all you need. If you want to compile it on your
own, the C source file binary.tm is all you need. You need
Mathematica version 2.2 or later to use FastBinaryFiles (I
haven't tried it with v2.1, but it might work). DOS users
cannot use it, as MathLink is not available for DOS, and
Windows users need either version 2.2.2, or 2.2.1 and the
MathLink Developer's Kit for Windows. This program is discussed
more fully in Volume 4, Issue 2 of The Mathematica Journal.
README.txt (7 Kb)
binary.tm (83 Kb)
binary.zip (38 Kb)
binary.sit.hqx (119 Kb)
I hope this helps.
--Ian
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Ian Collier
Technical Sales Support
Wolfram Research, Inc.
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