h5import infile in_options [infile in_options ...] -o outfile 
h5import infile in_options [infile in_options ...] -outfile outfile 
h5import -h 
h5import -help

The primary objective of h5import is to import floating point or integer data. The utility's design allows for future versions that accept ASCII text files and store the contents as a compact array of one-dimensional strings, but that capability is not implemented in HDF5 Release 1.6.

Input data and options:
Input data can be provided in one of the following forms:

• As an ASCII, or plain-text, file containing either floating point or integer data
• As a binary file containing either 32-bit or 64-bit native floating point data
• As a binary file containing native integer data, signed or unsigned and 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit.
• As an ASCII, or plain-text, file containing text data. (This feature is not implemented in HDF5 Release 1.6.)

Floating point data in an ASCII input file may be expressed either in the fixed-point form (e.g., 323.56) or in scientific notation (e.g., 3.23E+02) in an ASCII input file.

Each input file can be associated with options specifying the datatype and storage properties. These options can be specified either as command line arguments or in a configuration file. Note that exactly one of these approaches must be used with a single input file.

Command line arguments, best used with simple input files, can be used to specify the class, size, dimensions of the input data and a path identifying the output dataset.

The recommended means of specifying input data options is in a configuration file; this is also the only means of specifying advanced storage features. See further discussion in "The configuration file" below.

The only required option for input data is dimension sizes; defaults are available for all others.

h5import will accept up to 30 input files in a single call. Other considerations, such as the maximum length of a command line, may impose a more stringent limitation.

Output data and options:
The name of the output file is specified following the -o or -output option in outfile. The data from each input file is stored as a separate dataset in this output file. outfile may be an existing file. If it does not yet exist, h5import will create it.

Output dataset information and storage properties can be specified only by means of a configuration file.

Command-line arguments:
The h5import syntax for the command-line arguments, in_options, is as follows:

Note the following:

• If the -c config_file option is used with an input file, no other argument can be used with that input file.
• If the -c config_file option is not used with an input data file, the -d dim_list argument (or -dims dim_list) must be used and any combination of the remaining options may be used. Any arguments used must appear in exactly the order used in the syntax declarations immediately above.

The configuration file:
A configuration file is specified with the -c config_file option:

The configuration file is an ASCII file and must be organized as "Configuration_Keyword Value" pairs, with one pair on each line. For example, the line indicating that the input data class (configuration keyword INPUT-CLASS) is floating point in a text file (value TEXTFP) would appear as follows:
    INPUT-CLASS TEXTFP

A configuration file may have the following keywords each followed by one of the following defined values. One entry for each of the first two keywords, RANK and DIMENSION-SIZES, is required; all other keywords are optional.