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4.4.10 Binary table i/o: The -b option

All GMT programs that accept table data input may read ASCII or binary data. When using binary data the user must be aware of the fact that GMT has no way of determining the actual number of columns in the file. You must therefore pass that information to GMT via the binary -bi[s]n option, where n is the actual number of data columns (s indicates single (4 bytes) rather than double (8 bytes) precision). If uppercase S (or D) are used it implies that byte-swapping should be performed just prior to writing (for output) or immediately after reading (for input). Note that n may be larger than m, the number of columns that the GMT program requires to do its task. If n is not given then it defaults to m. If n m an error is generated. For more information, see Appendix B.

Next: 4.4.11 Data type selection: Up: 4.4 Standardized command line Previous: 4.4.9 Plot positioning and Contents Index